It is our collective responsibility to understand how toys powered by artificial intelligence – such as those explored by Arwa Mahdawi – impact young children (‘I love you too!’ My family’s creepy, unsettling week with an AI toy, 16 September). At the University of Cambridge’s Play in Education, Development and Learning centre, we are conducting a study to understand the impacts of AI toys on children’s development and relationships in the early years.
Questions about how AI toys respond to children’s input are central to this understanding. Do AI toys affirm love and friendship to a child, and what does that mean for the child’s human relationships? Do AI toys share children’s conversations with parents, or even third parties, and what does this mean for safeguarding and the child’s right to privacy? How do AI toys give and interpret social cues, and does this impact the way children socialise with others?
It is also important to note – as discussed by Mahdawi – the likely impact that AI toys will have on the digital divide, where they provide the most privileged children with adult-supervised exposure to AI and improve AI literacy. Meanwhile, those whose families are less able to afford £74 AI-powered companions are left to suffer the consequences of unregulated AI. To fully understand how these toys affect children across socioeconomic backgrounds, we need to engage in public dialogue to ensure parents and children can make informed decisions.
Dr Emily J Goodacre
Prof Jenny Gibson
University of Cambridge
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