Toy company Mattel has
announced a deal with OpenAI to create AI-powered toys, but digital rights advocates have urged caution.
In a press release last week, the owner of the Barbie brand signed a “strategic collaboration” with the AI company, which owns ChatGPT. “By using OpenAI’s technology, Mattel will bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences with an emphasis on innovation, privacy, and safety,” it said.
Details on what might emerge were scarce, but Mattel said that it only integrates new technologies into its products in “a safe, thoughtful, and responsible way”.
Advocacy groups were quick to denounce the move. Robert Weissman, co-president of public rights advocacy group Public Citizen,
commented:
“Mattel should announce immediately that it will not incorporate AI technology into children’s toys. Children do not have the cognitive capacity to distinguish fully between reality and play.
Endowing toys with human-seeming voices that are able to engage in human-like conversations risks inflicting real damage on children. It may undermine social development, interfere with children’s ability to form peer relationships, pull children away from playtime with peers, and possibly inflict long-term harm.”
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