By India McCarty
Childcare experts called on Mattel to end a previously-announced collaboration with OpenAI that would implement the tech into some of their toys.
“Mattel should announce immediately that it will not incorporate AI technology into children’s toys,” Robert Weissman, co-president of the advocacy group Public Citizen, said in a statement. “Children do not have the cognitive capacity to distinguish fully between reality and play.”
He said that giving toys “human-seeming voices” that can engage with kids like a real person “risks inflicting real damage on children,” from negatively impacting their social development to interfering with their ability to create and sustain relationships with their peers.
“Mattel should not leverage its trust with parents to conduct a reckless social experiment on our children by selling toys that incorporate AI,” Weissman concluded.
OpenAI announced its planned partnership with Mattel earlier this month, posting a statement to its website.
“Each of our products and experiences is designed to inspire fans, entertain audiences, and enrich lives through play. AI has the power to expand on that mission and broaden the reach of our brands in new and exciting ways,” Josh Silverman, chief franchise officer of Mattel, said. “Our work with OpenAI will enable us to leverage new technologies to solidify our leadership in innovation and reimagine new forms of play.”
Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer at OpenAI, added, “We’re pleased to work with Mattel as it moves to introduce thoughtful AI-powered experiences and products into its iconic brands, while also providing its employees the benefits of ChatGPT. With OpenAI, Mattel has access to an advanced set of AI capabilities alongside new tools to enable productivity, creativity, and company-wide transformation at scale.”
Toy maker Mattel is teaming up with OpenAI to develop AI-powered products and experiences based on Mattel brands.
The Barbie, Hot Wheels and Polly Pocket creator says it will use OpenAI’s technology to “bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences with an emphasis… pic.twitter.com/8Oymv5WstE
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OpenAI and Mattel were not specific about how they would implement the technology, but any early exposure to AI models could harm children. Many psychiatrists and other experts have warned against the dangers of engaging with chatbots, pointing to the unhealthy attachments some people form to the technology.
“The correspondence with generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT is so realistic that one easily gets the impression that there is a real person at the other end,” Soren Dinesen Ostergaard, a professor of psychiatry at Aarhus University in Denmark, wrote in an article published by the Schizophrenia Bulletin.
He continued, “In my opinion, it seems likely that this cognitive dissonance may fuel delusions in those with increased propensity towards psychosis.”
While it’s still unknown how Mattel would use OpenAI’s chatbot models in their toys, it’s clear that any positives are far outweighed by the negative ways interacting with this technology could affect your child.
Read Next: Is AI Coming to Barbie?
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