AI-powered children's toys are here, but are they safe?

Tue, 02 December 2025

11:04

Representational image

Teddy bears and stuffed plushies have long been a mainstay in toy collections. But today they don't talk back in a child's imagination '" some talk through built-in AI chatbots.

Sometimes that's a problem, though: A scarf-wearing teddy bear recently went off the rails during a playtest with researchers and set off alarms for what these toys are capable of.

Online chatbots can pose risks for adults, from triggering delusions in a small number of cases to hallucinating made-up information.

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