AI Toys Take Off: Smart Gadgets Race to Dominate the Emotional Companionship Market!

Interactive chat, storytelling, guided questioning …… As a newcomer to intelligent hardware, AI toys are landing intensively, igniting the consumption enthusiasm of ordinary users. Industry experts believe that the user scale of AI applications at home and abroad continues to grow, and the AI emotional accompaniment category has become the main application scenario, and AI toys, as a new direction of emotional accompaniment combined with hardware, are expected to open a new track. At the same time, the topic of how to effectively regulate AI interaction for children to bring new challenges is urgently on the agenda.

source:Genspark

The reporter noted that in the past six months, AI toys on the market are rising rapidly from 0 to 1. On the foreign market, the U.S. Silicon Valley startup toy company Curio has launched three AI plush toys using OpenAI models for children aged 3 to 7. In the domestic market, AI toys are also intensive landing, byte jumping launched AI plush toys ‘conspicuous package’, leaping innovation launched AI toys pendant Bubble Pal, Tom Cat first generation AI robot toys are also planned to be listed before the Spring Festival.

Plush toys behind the ‘AI octopus’

No matter which company to build AI toys, the reporter noted that its actual form, is still a direct combination of ordinary plush toys and generative artificial intelligence (AIGG) hardware.

‘Plush toys are just the skin, the core is still the ‘AI movement’ in the guts of the doll.’ A businessman told reporters that his family sells AI toys can provide seven different doll shapes, such as Mickey, Princess Elsa, Doraemon, etc., ‘the outside is randomly selected, inside the “AI movement” are the same.’

At present, there are domestic companies aiming at AI children’s companion field this vertical new scene. foloToy project launched in July 2023 in Zhongguancun, Beijing, the team researched its own AI hardware and algorithms, in addition to directly selling AI fire rabbit, AI cactus and other finished toys, but also sell ‘AI movement’, just need to put the kit into any Ordinary toys, you can let the toys ‘speak’.

‘Parents can configure the backend system with various parameters such as large models and guide words, so that the toy can become a specific character to have a dialogue with the child.’ FoloToy co-founder Guo Xinghua said, in addition, ‘Octopus’ can also clone the voice of parents to tell stories, as well as to do English, French and other oral training, for professional users, you can also deploy their own large model of intelligent body (Agent) directly into the toy.

The AI development kits and finished toys launched by this team are now not only available in China, but also sold to nearly 20 countries in North America, Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Southeast Asia, and Australia. According to Guo Xinghua, about 30,000 AI toys have been bought by ordinary consumers. At the same time, they also provide customised products for enterprises, such as byte jumping ‘conspicuous bag’ built-in, is their ‘AI magic box’.

Interactive accompaniment hidden multiple challenges

‘Emotional accompaniment has become the largest landing scene of AI in consumer entertainment.’ Zhang Liangwei, co-director of the Soochow Securities Research Institute, said that AI toys, as a new direction of AI emotional accompaniment combined with hardware, are expected to integrate with IP and open a new track.

AI toys can provide personalised dialogue and emotional interaction, but they are not the ‘perfect playmate’. Children in the process of interacting with AI toys, a large amount of personal information is held by the platform, privacy protection and other issues need to be considered. ‘The APP didn’t open the positioning authority, but the AI toy accurately told us the city where we are’ “The child’s voice, preferences, daily life and other information are all connected to the cloud” ’I’m a bit worried that the platform will not be used for other purposes. ‘…… The reporter saw that many parents said on social media platforms that there was some fear of a suspected privacy leak after using AI toys.

‘The content generated by the AI big model is open and creative, but in children’s education, the problem of model illusion may lead to inaccurate information.’ Industry experts said that how to provide high-quality content while ensuring accurate interaction also needs to be explored in depth by relevant companies. Meanwhile, a number of parents also appealed to reporters, hoping that regulators will pay timely attention to this trend of AI interaction and the new challenges it brings to children.

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