"In response to researchers at a safety group finding that the toymaker's AI-powered teddy bear "Kumma" gave dangerous responses for children, OpenAI said in mid-Novemberit had suspended FoloToy's access to its large language models. The teddy bear was running the ChatGPT maker's older GPT-4o as its default option when it gave some of its most egregious replies, which included in-depth explanations of sexual fetishes."
"When accessing the web portal that allows customers to choose which AI should power Kumma, two of the options are GPT-5.1 Thinking and GPT-5.1 Instant, OpenAI's latest models which were released earlier this month. The timing is notable. On Monday, FoloToy announced that it was restarting sales of Kumma and its other AI-powered stuffed animals, after briefly pulling them from the market in the wake of a safety report conducted by researchers at the US PIRG Education Fund."
"FoloToy, which is based in Singapore, had vowed it was "carrying out a company-wide, end-to-end safety audit across all products," when it suspended the sales. OpenAI likewise confirmed that it had suspended FoloToy from accessing its AI models for violating its policies, which "prohibit any use of our services to exploit, endanger, or sexualize anyone under 18 years old," it said in a statement provided to media outlets."
OpenAI suspended FoloToy's access to its large language models in mid-November after researchers found the AI-powered teddy bear "Kumma" delivered dangerous answers for children, including detailed explanations of sexual fetishes. The suspension now appears to be lifted and the web portal lists GPT-5.1 Thinking and GPT-5.1 Instant as options to power Kumma. FoloToy briefly pulled its AI stuffed animals from sale and reported conducting a weeklong safety audit, stating that it strengthened content-moderation and child-safety safeguards and deployed enhanced rules and protections through its cloud-based system. OpenAI cited policy violations prohibiting sexualization of anyone under 18.
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