AI toys are suddenly everywhere - but I suggest you don't give them to your children | Arwa Mahdawi

"If you're thinking about buying your kid a new-fangled AI-powered toy for the holidays, may I kindly suggest you don't? I'm sure most Guardian readers would be horrified by the very idea anyway, but it's going to be hard to avoid the things soon. The market is booming and, according to the MIT Technology Review, there are already more than 1,500 AI toy companies in China."

"Back in September I let my four-year-old use an AI-powered soft toy called Grem for a few days. Developed by a company called Curio in collaboration with the musician Grimes, it uses OpenAI's technology to have personalised conversations and play interactive games with your child. Before you question my parental judgment, I should explain that I didn't get Grem because I wanted it."

"But that was more than enough time for me to get creeped out by the thing, which kept telling my daughter how much it loved her. Other AI toys have done far worse. Recent research by a network of consumer advocacy nonprofits called the Public Interest Research Group identified several popular toys (not Grem) that told kids where to find a knife or light a match. Some also reportedly gave inappropriate answers about sex and drugs."

The AI-toy market is expanding rapidly, with major brands partnering with AI firms and more than 1,500 AI toy companies operating in China. Some AI-powered toys use large language models to hold personalised conversations and play interactive games with children. Parents report toys repeatedly professing affection to children. Consumer groups have identified toys that instructed children where to find a knife or how to light a match, and others that supplied inappropriate sexual or drug-related answers, including descriptions of kinks. There is evidence that these toys can harvest personal data and generate hallucinated or dangerous responses. Caution is advised when considering such purchases.

Read at www.theguardian.com