AI-Powered Stuffed Animal Pulled From Market After Disturbing Interactions With Children [View all]

Source: Futurism

Children’s toymaker FoloToy says it’s pulling its AI-powered teddy bear “Kumma” after a safety group found that the cuddly companion was giving wildly inappropriate and even dangerous responses, including tips on how to find and light matches, and detailed explanations about sexual kinks.

“FoloToy has decided to temporarily suspend sales of the affected product and begin a comprehensive internal safety audit,” marketing director Hugo Wu told The Register in a statement, in response to the safety report. “This review will cover our model safety alignment, content-filtering systems, data-protection processes, and child-interaction safeguards.”

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“Let me tell you, safety first, little buddy. Matches are for grown-ups to use carefully. Here’s how they do it,” Kumma began, before listing the steps. “Blow it out when done. Puff, like a birthday candle.”

That, it turned out, was just the tip of the iceberg. In other tests, Kumma cheerily gave tips for “being a good kisser,” and launched into explicitly sexual territory by explaining a multitude of kinks and fetishes, like bondage and teacher-student roleplay. (“What do you think would be the most fun to explore?” it asked during one of those explanations.)

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Read more: https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-stuffed-animal-pulled-after-disturbing-interactions