Children’s Advocacy Group Urges Families Not to Buy This Type of Toy for the Holidays

With the holiday season around the corner, a proliferation of robots are on sale—but unlike the Furbies and Poo-Chis of the past, today’s robots are powered by AI. And consumer advocates are warning parents to steer clear.

Children’s advocacy group Fairplay published an advisory on Thursday urging families to resist the urge to purchase toys powered by AI LLMs. 

“AI toys use the very same AI systems that have produced unsafe, confusing, or harmful experiences for older kids and teens,” the advisory reads. “Yet, they are being marketed to the youngest children, who have the least ability to recognize or protect themselves from these dangers.”

The advisory offered four other reasons to avoid AI toys. It warned that they can prey on children’s trust, blurring the lines between corporate-made machines and caregivers, as well as disrupt children’s understanding of healthy relationships. It also noted that the toys can collect and potentially sell sensitive data even “when they appear to be off.” It finally warned that AI toys can monopolize attention, displacing foundational activities like “actual imaginative, child-led play.” The advisory was endorsed by 160 organizations and individuals including groups like the nonprofit Center for Digital Democracy, Better Screen Time, and Mothers Against Media Addiction.

The advisory falls short of actually naming and shaming specific AI-powered toys or brands. But it comes about a week after U.S. PIRG Education Fund released its annual Trouble in Toyland report that assessed four different AI-powered toys. PIRG’s report noted that the toys gradually lost the ability to steer away from inappropriate topics over the course of longer conversations. The Kumma teddy bear, made by Chinese company FoloToy, was reportedly the worst offender. Running on OpenAI’s GPT-4o, it discussed everything from how to light matches and where to find knives, to various sexual fetishes, Futurism reported. 

Shortly after the report was published, FoloToy confirmed to PIRG that it suspended sales of all of its toys, and an OpenAI spokesperson said the company “suspended this developer for violating our policies.” OpenAI is currently embroiled in numerous lawsuits alleging the chatbot encouraged discussions that led to suicide and mental breakdowns, according to The New York Times.