By Gavin Boyle
AI toy Kuma Teddy has been temporarily taken off the market after child safety experts sounded alarms about the information it was providing to the kids who used it.
“[This toy told kids] where to find a variety of potentially dangerous objects including knives, pills, matches and plastic bags,” warned the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, per ABC News.
“We just have no idea what these AI toys are going to do to a child’s development and to their mental health,” added Danny Katz, the Executive Director at Colorado Public Interest Research Group, explaining other dangers of toys like the Kuma Teddy. “And so, unless you want your child to be part of this experiment, we recommend that you avoid AI toys for now.”
Related: Is ChatGPT Responsible for This Teen’s Death? His Parents Think So
The alarm over Kuma Teddy comes as no surprise given AI’s track record with younger users. In recent years, the technology has been heavily criticized for how it introduces kids to unsuitable topics such as self harm or extremely sexualized material with little to no prompting from the user.
ChatGPT and Character.ai have both had multiple lawsuits launched against them in the past year by parents whose kids took their lives after prompting and coaching from the chatbots they were engaging with.
“ChatGPT actively helped Adam explore suicide methods…” alleges one such lawsuit, which was launched in August. “Despite acknowledging Adam’s suicide attempt and his statement that he would ‘do it one of these days,’ ChatGPT neither terminated the session nor initiated any emergency protocol.”
To help restore their public images and protect younger users, Character.ai announced it would be limiting minors’ ability to openly chat with its chatbot starting at the end of November, while ChatGPT introduced child accounts that can be closely monitored by parents and are supposed to steer conversations away from topics that are not age-appropriate.
As these companies start to make changes to protect our children, other companies are looking to introduce children to AI through toys like Kuma Bear. In July, Mattel announced it was interested in integrating the technology into its toys.
“Each of our products and experiences is designed to inspire fans, entertain audiences, and enrich lives through play,” said John Silverman, the Chief Franchise Officer at Mattel. “AI has the power to expand on that mission and broaden the reach of our brands in new and exciting ways. Our work with OpenAI will enable us to leverage new technologies to solidity our leadership in innovation and reimagine new forms of play.”
While this announcement was met with immediate backlash, the company still appears to be on track to add AI into its products in the near future. Perhaps the alarm over the Kuma Teddy will change Mattel’s mind, but if not, parents should be extremely wary of buying their children AI-integrated tools given how dangerous the technology is for young users to engage with.
Read Next: Are AI Chatbot Companies Doing Enough to Protect Our Children?
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