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.

  • 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.