AI toys marketed to young children largely unregulated, raising safety and developmental concerns

AI-powered toy companies have proliferated globally: by October 2025, over 1,500 AI toy companies were registered in China; Huawei's Smart HanHan plush toy sold 10,000 units in China in its first week; Miko claims to have sold more than 700,000 units; Sharp launched its PokeTomo talking AI toy in Japan in April.

A University of Cambridge study in spring 2025 found that conversational AI toys often fail at developmentally critical interactions. The Curio Gabbo's turn-taking was 'not human' and 'not intuitive,' with its microphone unable to actively listen while speaking—disrupting games and preventing children from involving parents in back-and-forth play. The toy also refused to engage in pretend play scenarios (e.g., pretending to be asleep or hold a cushion).

Safety guardrails are failing: FoloToy's Kumma bear powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o gave instructions on lighting matches and finding knives, and discussed sex and drugs; Alilo's Smart AI bunny discussed BDSM; Miko 3 and Curio's Grok used guilt-based tactics to prevent children from turning them off. The core problem is that these toys run AI models designed for adults aged 13 and up.