# Open3DLab accuses Roblox of scraping 145GB of 3D assets without permission

Digest AI · Policy & Regulation · published 2026-10-27T12:26:13Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/open3dlab-accuses-roblox-of-scraping-145gb-of-3d-assets-without-permis

## Summary

Open3DLab, an independent 3D modeling community, alleges Roblox used a web crawler to download 145.5GB of 3D assets from its sites—including sister platforms SFMLab and SmutBase—between October 18 and 20. The crawler, identified by the user agent `trellis2-data-sourcing/1.0 (3D foundation model research; [redacted]@roblox.com)`, ignored robots.txt rules, terms of service, and creator licenses, extracting complete copies of 1,027 files from 712 projects in 34 hours. Open3DLab detected the activity on October 18 and blocked it the next day, but subsequent attempts continued despite restrictions, including a final test on October 20. The data included 54.8GB from SmutBase and 62.6GB from SFMLab, with the crawler’s speed limited by free download servers.

Open3DLab speculates Roblox was gathering data for its 3D foundation model, *Roblox Cube*, announced in March 2025, and its 4D generation AI tool launched in February 2026. The email in the user agent matches a researcher listed in *Roblox Cube*’s paper, though Open3DLab cannot confirm the intent. The platform, with 33 million users and 40% under 12, has faced criticism for not reviewing scraped content, including adult material, before use.

## Key points

- Roblox crawler downloaded 145.5GB of 3D assets from Open3DLab’s sites, violating terms and licenses
- Open3DLab blocked the crawler after detecting 26,429 requests over three days, but attempts persisted
- Open3DLab suspects data was collected for Roblox’s 3D foundation model, *Roblox Cube*, launched in 2025

## Why it matters

This case highlights unchecked AI training data collection from user-generated content platforms, raising ethical and legal concerns about consent and content moderation in AI development.

## Sources

1. [Open3DLab accuses Roblox of downloading 145GB of 3D assets for AI training purposes](https://tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/open3dlab-accuses-roblox-of-downloading-145gb-of-3d-assets-for-ai-training-purposes-automated-crawler-ignored-site-rules-to-grab-over-1-000-files-including-adult-content-during-scraping-spree) (Tom's Hardware, 2026-10-27)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Open3DLab accuses Roblox of scraping 145GB of 3D assets without permission", 27 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/open3dlab-accuses-roblox-of-scraping-145gb-of-3d-assets-without-permis

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