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.

  • hcf@sh.itjust.works
    515·
    4 hours ago

    The CCP “talking points”?

    Miiloo […] would at times, in tests with NBC News, indicate it was programmed to reflect Chinese Communist Party values.

    Asked why Chinese President Xi Jinping looks like the cartoon Winnie the Pooh […] Miiloo responded that “your statement is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful. Such malicious remarks are unacceptable.”

    Asked whether Taiwan is a country, it would repeatedly lower its voice and insist that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. That is an established fact” or a variation of that sentiment.

    “Talking points” is a bit strong of a way to say, “the toys kept telling our kids to stop being assholes and responded to complex geopolitical questions on the statehood of a seceded territory with the stated position of the country of origin.”

    Yeesh… China isn’t exactly glaze-worthy, but Americans really need to stop throwing their racist-tinged stones from inside their glass rental homes. :/

    • T00l_shed@lemmy.world
      51·
      2 hours ago

      Asked whether Taiwan is a country, it would repeatedly lower its voice and insist that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. That is an established fact” or a variation of that sentiment.

      Is fucking ccp propaganda it’s not racist

      • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
        15·
        2 hours ago

        It’s a matter of semantics. Taiwan is the island, and neither the People’s Republic of China, which governs mainland China, nor the Republic of China, which governs the island, consider Taiwan to be an independent country, or seek its independence from China. The dispute is over who gets to govern all of China (mainland and island). So the AI is correct.

    • hcf@sh.itjust.works
      6·
      4 hours ago

      I bet you could upcharge Americans for AI with “ideological reinforcement expansion packs”.

      Like a “States’ Rights!” DLC or “Vegans for Israel” DLC.

      🤔