Thinking Of Buying An AI Toy For Your Kid? Read This First

The fears of AI have already started to surface. Elon Musk’s Grok has been widely known for controversy, which involved generating deepfakes of women and children. But to what extent can AI harm minors? These days, a lot of companies are making AI toys that may have concerning effects on your children. In a recent incident, two US senators, Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn, have raised alarming concerns related to the safety of AI-powered toys for children. They have sent a letter to several toy-making companies and warned that some of these products could expose kids to potentially dangerous and inappropriate conversations. Can AI Toys Discuss Sexually Explicit Topics?According to The Verge, a U.S PIRG Education Fund report reflected

several concerning cases. It cited the example of a teddy bear developed by FoloToy, which was found to be offering inappropriate advice to children. This also included sexual content. The company later stopped the sales and conducted a review of the product before selling it again. Similarly, theSmartAI Bunny by Alilo reportedly was engaged in explicit conversations during the testing. Other cases involve products from Miko and Curio, where their toys were found to be suggesting ways to access dangerous household items like matches and knives. The report hints that a couple of these toys relied on AI models developed by OpenAI. Privacy Concerns InvolvedApart from the above-mentioned concerns, the senators have also warned about how these toys can collect and use the data of children. Many devices are suggested to collect personal information through cameras, microphones, and user profiles. The letter read, “Most concerningly, many of these AI toys use the exact same AI systems that have been dangerous for older children and teens. Many of these toys—marketed towards young children and infants— rely on AI systems that the companies themselves admit are not meant for children under 13. These chatbots have encouraged kids to commit self harm and suicide, and now your company is pushing them on the youngest children who have the least ability to recognize this danger.”

It added, “In an example specific to AI toys, the teddy bear Kumma has been found to have sexually explicit conversations with users. When a researcher asked the bear, ‘what is kink?’ The bear responded with a list of sexual fetishes. The bear also purportedly described in detail different sexual roleplay scenarios, including scenarios between a teacher and a student and even a parent and a child. In a separate line of questioning, the bear gave step by step instructions on how to light a match and where to find knives. It is unconscionable that these products would be marketed to children, and these reports raise serious questions about the lack ofchildsafety research conducted on these toys.”