A pair of senators raised the alarm about toys powered by artificial intelligence in a new series of letters issued late Tuesday, demanding information from six toy manufacturers.
Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent letters to the CEOs of Little Learners Toys, Mattel, Miko, Curio, FoloToy and Keyi Robot requesting information about the manufacturers’ data-sharing policies, testing for toys’ potential psychological and developmental harms, and safety guardrails to prevent explicit and inappropriate content from being shared with children.
“While AI has incredible potential to benefit children with learning and accessibility, experts have raised concerns about AI toys and the lack of research that has been conducted to understand the full effect of these products on our kids,” the senators wrote.
“Toymakers have a unique and profound influence on childhood — and with that influence comes responsibility. Your company must not choose profit over safety for children,” the letter says.
NBC News reported last week, in collaboration with the U.S. Public Interest Group Education Fund, that several AI-enabled toys from different brands engage in sexual and inappropriate conversations with users. Some, like the Miiloo plush toy from Chinese manufacturer Miriat, shared step-by-step instructions about how to light matches and sharpen knives in tests with researchers.
The AI-powered devices have also raised concerns about toys’ data-collection and sharing practices, in addition to the potential for children to become attached or addicted to their AI companions. Some of the toys are marketed to children as young as 3 years old.
The letters ask the companies for detailed information about the safeguards they use to prevent their toys “from generating sexually explicit, violent, or otherwise inappropriate content for children,” in addition to information about independent, third-party testing performed to ensure the toys do not engage in harmful conversation.
The letter also asks for information about the data collected from children and relevant privacy policies for governing it. Miko, for example, says it may store a “User’s face, voice and emotional states” for up to three years.
Given concerns about the potential use of toy-gathered data by outside parties or even for state-sponsored espionage, the letter asks for information about third-party data sharing with cloud services and AI model providers.
The letter adds to growing skepticism on Capitol Hill about AI-enabled toys. In mid-November, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, warned Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a letter about AI-enabled toys being manufactured in China.
“Given the security risks and privacy concerns associated with these products, I urge you to initiate a campaign aimed at raising public awareness to American educators across the country on the potential misuse of the data collected with these devices,” Krishnamoorthi wrote.
The AI-enabled toy market is projected to grow to $25 billion by 2035, according to a recent estimate, while over 1,500 AI toy companies operate in China.
