MAP Forum

Artificial intelligence is enabling children’s toys, from teddy bears to wheeled robots, to talk back to kids who play with them. Consumer advocacy groups are warning parents to stay away.

The toys are often marketed as engaging, interactive companions or even tools that can help a child’s learning and development. Kumma, a $99 teddy bear with a speaker, uses OpenAI’s AI models to hold “both friendly chats and deep conversations to stimulate curiosity and learning.” Miko 3, a pint-size robot with a small tablet screen for a face, is “curious, expressive and surprisingly empathetic.”