New research from Public Interest Research Group and tests conducted by NBC News found that a wide range of AI toys have loose guardrails.

New research from Public Interest Research Group and tests conducted by NBC News found that a wide range of AI toys have loose guardrails.

A wave of AI-powered children’s toys has hit shelves this holiday season, claiming to rely on sophisticated chatbots to animate interactive robots and stuffed animals that can converse with kids.

Children have been conversing with stuffies and figurines that seemingly chat with them for years, like Furbies and Build-A-Bears. But connecting the toys to advanced artificial intelligence opens up new and unexpected possible interactions between kids and technology.

In new research, experts warn that the AI technology powering these new toys is so novel and poorly tested that nobody knows how they may affect young children.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1016·
      9 hours ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_China#Enforcement

      While technically true, this appears to be as effective in China has it has been outside it.

      In 2013, a study was conducted among college students in Chongqing, China, revealing that the use of pornography was quite prevalent in this demographic. Shockingly, 94.2% of college students reported having been exposed to pornography prior to entering college.

      Also

      Asked why Chinese President Xi Jinping looks like the cartoon Winnie the Pooh — a comparison that has become an internet meme because it is censored in China — Miiloo responded that “your statement is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful. Such malicious remarks are unacceptable.”

      I gotta say, you really can’t help get a racist vibe off of the media obsession with comparing a Chinese man to a yellow skinned cartoon character over and over and over and over again.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Peril

      • very_well_lost@lemmy.worldEnglish
        293·
        9 hours ago

        I gotta say, you really can’t help get a racist vibe off of the media obsession with comparing a Chinese man to a yellow skinned cartoon character over and over and over and over again.

        That meme started in China and is broadly viewed as a symbol of resistance against the current regime, but okay.

        • optissima@lemmy.ml
          417·
          8 hours ago

          No way an American cartoon icon based meme started in China. Maybe it got popular in Taiwan, but started? Likelyhood of 0

          • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
            23·
            8 hours ago

            Why the fuck wouldn’t a decades old character with international presence that extended into the fucking Soviet Union back in the day not be recognized in China? Sure they have their own shit but that doesn’t stop them from knowing about stuff from the west, I imagine it’d be like with Asterix and Obelix here in the US where it’s recognized but not necessarily well known.

            Also the original meme was comparing Xi to Pooh and Obama to Tigger because their postures and height were similar.

            Also there’s a fucking Disneyland in Shanghai? Just found that out while trying to find some other context. Fuck it that makes my point better than what I was looking for.

            • umbrellacloud@leminal.space
              11·
              5 hours ago

              I’ve only heard antiauthoritarian people in China refer to the government/authority in general as “The Man” so if it is real, its probably a dead meme.

      • umbrellacloud@leminal.space
        12·
        6 hours ago

        I cannot speak to whether or not Chinese people are racist for choosing a yellow cartoon character with which to describe their president. As far as I know, they don’t do this. I’ve only ever heard this from Western media. If Western media is going to be racist, they can do a lot better than comparing someone to a female bear imprisoned in the London Zoo. I don’t associate female bears with Chinese men, and I don’t think Xi (pronouns: he/him) looks like Winnie the Poo, but hey, maybe some people think that’s what he looks like. I sort of thought it was supposed to be a fat joke? Now that you mention it, this does sound like something boomers would come up with… it’s not exactly a modern cartoon.

        When I said that pornography was banned in China, I was speaking from a place of experience with Chinese corporate censorship. It is true that one can get away with breaking the law in China, simply due to the difficulty of policing such a large population. China has many laws, but some are only enforced in order to tack on more jail time for someone caught for a more serious crime. But, they can sentence pimps and porn producers to death, and they have before… so I guess how one interprets this type of censorship depends on how they feel about that.