AI toys – are they safe?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a part of everyday technology, and the toy industry is embracing this smart future. AI-powered toys offer children interactive and personalized play experiences, but they also raise concerns about safety and privacy. This article explores how AI toys work, the benefits they provide, and their safety features.
How is AI Used in Toys?
The main idea behind AI toys is to create more engaging and adaptive play experiences. Unlike traditional toys with limited pre-programmed functions, AI toys can continuously learn and generate new interactions, keeping children entertained for longer. This adaptability makes AI toys more durable in terms of maintaining interest.
Play-I Poe Bear – Storytelling with AI
The Play-I Poe Bear is an AI-powered storytelling companion that creates personalized stories for children. Controlled via a free app, the bear allows parents or children to select from a range of story themes and characters. Using ChatGPT technology, the bear generates unique and age-appropriate tales, with additional filters in the app ensuring content safety.
Importantly, children do not interact directly with the AI. All data is processed securely through the app and the manufacturer’s servers. Parents can optionally input the child’s name, age, and birthday to personalize the experience, but this data is never shared or stored permanently. The bear does not record audio or video of the child or the environment, guaranteeing privacy.
Play-I Poe Bear offers up to 60 minutes of saved story content for convenient playback, making it perfect for bedtime or travel. The app-based design allows for an intuitive and flexible user experience.
AiRo Robot – Interactive Learning with AI
The Clementoni AiRo Robot brings AI into children’s play in an educational and interactive way. As a STEM toy, AiRo helps kids learn about science, technology, and programming. It uses a smartphone camera to recognize and mimic a child’s movements in real-time, promoting active and engaging learning.
AiRo focuses on movement rather than speech, making it straightforward and safe to use. The manufacturer ensures that no data is stored on cloud servers; all recordings remain on the user’s device, protecting privacy. Regular updates through the app keep the robot’s features secure and up to date.
With its free app, AiRo enables limitless command programming, offering children the chance to develop logical thinking and coding skills in a playful environment.
Are AI Toys Safe?
AI toys present exciting opportunities for both play and education. Manufacturers like Skyrocket Toys and Clementoni emphasize safety and data privacy, ensuring that children’s interactions with AI are secure and under parental control. These toys do not store sensitive data and are designed to offer a safe, enriching experience.
AI toys give parents a way to enhance their child’s learning and exploration, while also keeping them entertained in a secure and interactive setting.
For this article, we interviewed John Ardell from Skyrocket Toys and Alessandro Bucci from Clementoni.
This article is a translation and has been shortened. Find the original article in Finnish here.
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