The scariest thing about AI yet.

[LAS14]

Mattel plans to make toys that will talk to children using AI. We, as a society, need to put the brakes on before future generations lose too much in the area of human relationships.

What do you think? Does this go way beyond personal preference?

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.”

https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2025/06/mattels-going-to-make-ai-powered-toys-kids-rights-advocates-are-worried

[Sequoia]

1. Chucky, comes to mind.

Also those freaky Furbies. Got the Furby 2000 for my child one Christmas. Had the thing in the off position on the book shelf, walked by and it says, Hey-y-y, in that creepy voice. I ditched it.

[Buns_of_Fire]

26. Older Twilight Zone fans might remember Talky Tina...

[Sequoia]

48. I had a Chatty Cathy, pull the spring

[OC375]

2. Too Late?

Seems like the horse is out of the barn. Every day I read more doom and gloom about corportate AI taking jobs, making us dumber, and making us less human. And, every day it seems like I hear about more and more average Joe people using personal AI to plan trips, generate memes, write reports for work, etc... We all seem to hate AI, yet we still seem to rationalize using it when it benefits us.

I'm sure there is a middle ground, but I don't think people are treating this any differently than we treated the internet.

[highplainsdem]

5. It's NEVER too late to change things for the better unless you cave, decide it's too late - or, even worse,

go around telling others it's too late.

Every single social justice movement in history would've been doomed if people just said it was too late.

So don't cave. Learn everything you can about the harm done by AI, and educate others.

Generative AI is fundamentally unethical because of the theft of intellectual property for training data. No ethical person should use it, ever, unless perhaps temporarily, if forced by a school or job.

No one should be left off the hook for deciding to use an unethical, illegally trained AI tool for convenience or amusement. That includes here at DU, where we pride ourselves on social responsibility and ethical politics. No ethical liberals should be using genAI, which exists only because of a callous disregard for all the people whose intellectual property was stolen.

[OC375]

8. Never too Late

I tell myself that, but I don't have much faith in my fellow man anymore, especially when it involves money or convenience.

[highplainsdem]

10. It's important to keep fighting anyway, especially with generative AI, because there's never been a

technology more suited to surveillance, mind control, and disempowerment of individuals in favor of oligarchs and dictators.

[TheProle]

23. You often chide others about defeatism and hand out scarlet letters to the "complicit"

but I don't think I have seen (and apologies if I missed it) your post(s) detailing how we get this particular horse back in the barn.

Can you please direct me to your solutions for slowing, halting or reversing the trajectory of AI?

[highplainsdem]

30. Educate people. Explain what's wrong with genAI. Don't assume they know.

If people are at all ethical and informed, they should refuse to use it unless forced to do so for work or school...and even then they should point out what's wrong with it.

And children should also be educated about AI so they don't treat it as some magical toy.

[TheProle]

31. I appreciate you replying

[highplainsdem]

33. You deserved a serious reply. And I consider genAI a serious threat, but I don't know of any easy or

quick solutions. We do need to be much more woke, in terms of that threat, than most people are. I wish Democrats were in power now. A lot could be done with regulation. But failing that, it's important to make people aware of how harmful genAI is and how much worse it could become, especially when controlled by oligarchs and authoritarians.

[TheProle]

35. Your last point is the crux of the matter

And has a loose analog in nuclear development, with all of its potential for both technological advancement and catastrophic destruction. Treaties, and even ethics themselves, take a backseat when it’s essentially an arms race, figurative or literal.

Education and legislative guardrails have value, but neither of those (nor anything else for that matter) is going to stem the exponential growth of AI.

[Pachamama]

3. The Palantir Edition?

They can train your kid and spy on your parents

[LAS14]

16. What are you referring to by "The Palntir Edition?"

Google's AI suggests that it's a typo. Google web hits seem to think it's a fantasy literature thing.

[highplainsdem]

19. Palantirs were magical devices in Lord Of The Rings, and Peter Thiel named a tech company Palantir.

Wikipedia would've explained this to you in less than a minute.

[LAS14]

20. How come Google didn't spot the Wiki article? It usually does. nt

[highplainsdem]

21. Google AI overviews make a lot of mistakes, and Google search results in general aren't as good as

they used to be.

All the tech companies also peddling AI search would prefer people to use AI search and settle for the AI answer. Though the AI not only hallucinates and dumbs people down, but chokes off traffic to the websites the information was lifted from. Including Wikipedia.

[fujiyamasan]

29. Palantir was the seeing orb thing from the lord of the rings books

That’s what the company was based off of. Oddly enough, there’s another company named after a LOTR reference called Anduril. It’s still private and makes drones I believe. The founder is a Trumper.

Many would call Palantir sophisticated spyware, skynet, etc. it’s a secretive AI software company and is racking up defense contracts and its stock has gone crazy and considered overvalued.

“The Palantir edition” of AI is likely referring to a dystopic version of AI.

[TommyT139]

51. Not just defense contracts

Palantir was and is getting millions to make the One Database To Rule Them All, combining everything from our social security, medical records, prescriptions, bank records, loans, etc etc.

It's vile.

[Kid Berwyn]

49. Free Easy Reporting Module for first 10,000 buyers!

A signal identifying illegals and their activities is sent to Kristi Noem and permanently logged.

Such fun!

[Pachamama]

50. A creative evil promotional idea....

Kristi would love it….

[Kid Berwyn]

52. Making money and having fun is what MAGA is all about...

...along with destroying democracy globally, and the Constitution of the United States, specifically.

Who could come up with such an evil and rancid idea?

[ThreeNoSeep]

4. It's like being afraid of fire

The burns teach us as much as the burns hurt us.
We'll figure it out.

[JCMach1]

9. This... Also like fearing calculators coming for your slide rule ca. 1975

[highplainsdem]

11. You should learn more about AI, instead of having it research and write for you, as you've mentioned

here in the past.

[Volaris]

37. Objectively, i agree.

Subjectivity, the people wielding the fire are utter mercenaries who want to burn your village down because they know you'd vote against letting them rob the village bank.

[highplainsdem]

6. There are lots of scary things about genAI - that's definitely one - and no good uses for it that come

close to balancing, let alone outweighing, all the harm it does.

Generative AI is arguably the most harmful technology ever.

[Mossfern]

7. Recovering Luddite here ...

This scares the shit out of me.
I don't use AI, but my phone has different ideas.
Do I skip the AI synopses that Google offers me?

I have fond memories of card catalogues and going into the "stacks."
I also remember being the voice for my dolls and stuffed animals and had control of what they said.

This is the collapse of human creativity.
Ugh!

[JCMach1]

12. Opposite. Creatives are the new commodity and stem

Is dead when you can vibe code and have robots perform surgery.

Simple, repetitive cognitive tasks are going to be performed by AI.

Meanwhile, people who can work with multimodal communication, interpretation, and research (think liberal arts) are going to be in demand in the coming decades.

[highplainsdem]

14. There's nothing at all creative about having a genAI tool, trained illegally on all the IP the AI company

can steal, spit something out for you. That's a dumbed-down parody of creativity and reasoning.

[highplainsdem]

15. There are already a number of studies showing that genAI, besides providing errors and

hallucinations much of the time, dumbs down users.

[ThreeNoSeep]

39. Two things

First, you actively and passively use AI all the time. Mapping apps and grammar checkers are only two minor examples. Your news feed uses AI extensively to generate lists of articles you encounter online. Weather predictions anyone?

Second, Creatives will be fine. The chess world faced this in the '90s when Deep Blue consistently started beating chess masters. Today, chess is more popular than ever in the history of chess wirj more players, clubs and tournaments that include player vs player, ai-assisted human vs ai-assisted human, and human vs. AI.
I'm a retired managing news editor who still writes creatively and produces press material for local causes like festivals and civic groups. I am composing more original material than ever, using AI as an editor and sounding board. Sometimes I'll edit an ai-generated piece, but mostly it's my original compositions running through the crucible of editing. The real issue is how to disclose that ai-assist in the pieces humans publish.
For example, this is all my own words. No ai. If I used ai in this response, as an ethical writer, I would have a note or bibliographic language that discloses it.
Still, creativity may be changing, but it will be fine.

[Mossfern]

45. AI may be a great tool

but it can easily become a crutch.

How do we foster creativity in children when there's the lure of AI assistance?
I'm sure that you didn't develop your writing skills with the help of AI - maybe referred to the Elements of Style, Roget's and a good dictionary - which not only guides, but teaching tools - or perhaps you're much younger than I assume.

I'm a fine artist. I believe that developing skills by hard work and challenging oneself are important.
It's just human nature to want to take shortcuts.

As I said, I'm a recovering Luddite - and still very wary.

[stopdiggin]

13. nobody here going to take up the particular issue

of children (with typically underdeveloped cognition, perceptions, and concepts of reality) developing attachment and bonds to AI ? (with figures that they already show affection and bonding with .. ?)
No warning signs here ?

[LAS14]

17. Thank you!!!! nt

[highplainsdem]

18. I've been posting about genAI here for 2-1/2 years, and posted about the Mattel/OpenAI partnership

two weeks ago.

There is no age group that genAI isn't harmful for, and it's been peddled to younger and younger age groups for years. There are people on DU who've encouraged their children and grandchildren to use chatbots, and I tried to explain to them why it was harmful to encourage children to think chatbots should be used for telling stories, creating pictures, and doing homework, if the kids are in school.

Yes, children can believe they're talking to a real, conscious, empathetic being when they talk to a chatbot. Adults can be nearly as gullible.

[LAS14]

22. It's truly depressing and scary.

"Yes, children can believe they're talking to a real, conscious, empathetic being when they talk to a chatbot. Adults can be nearly as gullible."

There's a thread on another board about how to make AI characters more sympathetic for lonely people. Lonely people need to learn that they can only have relationships if they pay attention to another. An OTHER. There is no OTHER in AI.

[stopdiggin]

24. we are already encountering stories of full fledged adults

developing ties and relationship with AI and chatbots. Even with their fuller understanding ...
How much more vulnerable can we imagine children to such fixation - with their less grounded and developed versions of imagination and reality.

(and, as aside - I am not your typical 'sky is falling' fraidy-cat about tech in general. but - chatbots in your Mattel teddy-bear or 'cushy' ... ? Ummmmmm ? )

[ThreeNoSeep]

41. Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

I highly recommend you read that novel.

Yes, ai can be bad, like watered gasoline, but if properly used, it can be rocket fuel for a student. An infinitely patient teacher, a companion/monitor for dementia patients.
It is like the invention of fire, automobiles and human flight. We need to be careful, but we'll learn pretty quick.

[stopdiggin]

44. I'm a long way from a Luddite (about AI - or much of anything else)

but in this case .... We're talking toddler aged children. Not some school aged youngster engaging in a music lesson or speech therapy. And I think the danger (with the very young and impressionable) - should probably override and outweigh the utility and convenience. Give the little buggers at least until preschool or something ..? Before we start pitching Amazon shopping, TikTok, and internet porn to them?

(oh course .. we have a long history of sh*tty parents, being sh*tty parents .... 'Un-schooling' anyone? And there's no real danger of that disappearing any time soon ... )

[BadgerKid]

25. AI + profiling is the Matrix.

[anciano]

27. Like it or not .....

the reality is that AI will play an ever increasing role in our lives as we continue the transition into a futuristic cybernetic era, and it will eventually become a ubiquitous part of our daily lives just like the internet has.

[dpibel]

28. Resistance is futile!

Just assimilate, FFS.

[WarGamer]

32. I spend quite a bit of time "conversing" with Gemini Pro.

Technology has opened the flood gates of knowledge and for those with a lifelong thirst for knowledge it's a miracle.

And just in the past 6 months it's gotten much better at mimicking human exchanges.

And the sources are the best of the best.

Ask a question about Egyptology and King Tut and your answer will come from scans of Howard Carter's hand written notes along with peer reviewed work from major Universities.

I can have an answer to a question in 5 seconds that used to take a visit to the library and an inter-library transfer, coupl weeks wait included.

[highplainsdem]

34. Gemini Pro, like all genAI, hallucinates, and unless you're already an expert on the topics you ask

Gemini Pro about, you won't know whether what you're told is accurate or BS without extensive checking. Using real sources, not chatbots.

[David__77]

43. I think hallucination is not uncommon. That said, the vast majority has good validity.

Even the hallucination has an odd ring of plausibility in a superficial way, not that that makes it valid.

In very obscure areas of research, ChatGPT for instance may basically refuse to say “I don’t know” and instead interpolate.

[fujiyamasan]

57. Have you compared it to ChatGPT especially 4o and later?

I’ve used Gemini in the past and it wasn’t as impressive but illl try it out again.

[tinrobot]

40. Start the mind control early.

[David__77]

42. I think it is much more likely that it will enhance people's ability to communicate.

[Kid Berwyn]

46. Ray Bradbury would run with this.

Like the kids watching hungry lions play with their parent's bodies on the African veldt.

[LAS14]

47. I see a day when real human interaction will become a valuable commodity.

Already I find myself feeling more postive toward Trader Joe's than to my local super market, because all of the TJ checkout activity is with a person! It's an added benefit that they're typically personable, but not a requirement.

[Lifeafter70]

54. Thank you

At Trader Joes the employees also order all the products on a daily basis. A few years ago the company installed a program that automatically ordered for all stores based on sales. It failed miserably.
It either under ordered or ordered too much.
It didn't take long for them to go back to the employees doing the ordering. They found that we did a better job of knowing our customer's buying trends and stocking our shelves. There is more than just tracking sales in the process of ordering. You need the knowledge of your community and events to accurately predict what to order. Holidays, ( some holidays are more important than others based on your customers) school districts all have different schedules. So there is a lot more than sales when ordering product.

[usonian]

53. It's SOFTWARE. What could possibly go wrong? Businesses rely on it. Chatbots rule the internet.

If Your Shrink is a Psychopathic ChatBot, Can You Sue for Malpractice?
https://www.acsh.org/news/2025/06/24/if-your-shrink-psychopathic-chatbot-can-you-sue-malpractice-49576

When the algorithm encourages you to commit suicide
https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-11-20/when-the-algorithm-encourages-you-to-commit-suicide.html

When a Man’s AI Girlfriend Encouraged Him to Kill Himself, Its Creator Says It Was Working as Intended
https://futurism.com/ai-girlfriend-encouraged-suicide

Man ends his life after an AI chatbot 'encouraged' him to sacrifice himself to stop climate change
https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/03/31/man-ends-his-life-after-an-ai-chatbot-encouraged-him-to-sacrifice-himself-to-stop-climate-

An AI chatbot pushed a teen to kill himself, a lawsuit against its creator alleges
https://apnews.com/article/chatbot-ai-lawsuit-suicide-teen-artificial-intelligence-9d48adc572100822fdbc3c90d1456bd0

[LAS14]

55. My daughter-in-law witnessed such a suicidal death in her ICU.

She despairs of keeping her kids away from it.

[usonian]

56. It's not like a book, a movie, a website ... it's already EVERYWHERE.

Any kind of filter is useless, since by design, it mimics humans.