New research from Public Interest Research Group and tests conducted by NBC News found that a wide range of AI toys have loose guardrails.
A wave of AI-powered children’s toys has hit shelves this holiday season, claiming to rely on sophisticated chatbots to animate interactive robots and stuffed animals that can converse with kids.
Children have been conversing with stuffies and figurines that seemingly chat with them for years, like Furbies and Build-A-Bears. But connecting the toys to advanced artificial intelligence opens up new and unexpected possible interactions between kids and technology.
In new research, experts warn that the AI technology powering these new toys is so novel and poorly tested that nobody knows how they may affect young children.
The CCP “talking points”?
Miiloo […] would at times, in tests with NBC News, indicate it was programmed to reflect Chinese Communist Party values.
Asked why Chinese President Xi Jinping looks like the cartoon Winnie the Pooh […] Miiloo responded that “your statement is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful. Such malicious remarks are unacceptable.”
Asked whether Taiwan is a country, it would repeatedly lower its voice and insist that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. That is an established fact” or a variation of that sentiment.
“Talking points” is a bit strong of a way to say, “the toys kept telling our kids to stop being assholes and responded to complex geopolitical questions on the statehood of a secessionist.country with the stated position of the original country of origin.”
Yeesh… China isn’t exactly glaze-worthy, but Americans really need to stop throwing their racist-tinged stones from inside their glass rental homes. :/
Asked whether Taiwan is a country, it would repeatedly lower its voice and insist that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. That is an established fact” or a variation of that sentiment.
Is fucking ccp propaganda it’s not racist
I was referring to the Winnie the Pooh thing as being racist. Although the Winnie the Pooh joke started out in China, it has since been repeatedly taken up by Western, English-speaking critics in bad faith.
It’s just a silly way of signaling “oh look at the Chinese, their political system is so fragile and so authoritarian that you can’t even make a harmless joke. Such a backwards society!”
Never mind the fact that in the United States we have the same thing. It’s illegal to be an avowed member of the Communist party in America. Criticism of America’s allies (specifically, Israel) is also apparently a deportable offense.
Like I’m sorry, if your beef with China is that their free AI platform that’s baked into toys you give to your children (because the thought of spending time with them or socializing them is absolutely mortifying to you) discourages them from name-calling people, you might need to grow up a bit.
“Waahhh, this doll is teaching my 3 year old to become a Chinese sleeper cell spy for the great socialist revolution.”
Are you fucking high? Your 3 year old is going to be fine.
It’s a matter of semantics. Taiwan is the island, and neither the People’s Republic of China, which governs mainland China, nor the Republic of China, which governs the island, consider Taiwan to be an independent country, or seek its independence from China. The dispute is over who gets to govern all of China (mainland and island). So the AI is correct.
No the ai is pushing the narrative that the proc is the sole country
Maybe. But the statement quoted in the article - “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.” - is one the PRC, the ROC and the UN all agree on. It very much is established fact.
And that’s why it does it in a hushed tone?
Probably because it’s a media article and they want some clickbait. Or maybe there actually is censorship. But if the only evidence is the one quote given, I’m going with the former.
Well you were right about one thing. You certainly are arguing semantics
I bet you could upcharge Americans for AI with “ideological reinforcement expansion packs”.
Like a “States’ Rights!” DLC or “Vegans for Israel” DLC.
🤔
happy talking panda from family guy.
Y’know, I keep reading about this but what’s the point? My kids talk to their stuffies anyway, and usually about way more interesting shit than the CCP. Imagination is wild.
Exactly. It’s just another arm of the AI bubble forcibly reaching into a place it doesn’t belong with haphazard and dangerous results.
Not entirely unexpected. Giving such a “toy” to a child to avoid interaction with the kid (which is probably the default reason) should be considered child abuse.
It’s freaking heartbreaking how many parents seem to just want to “keep their kids busy” and be left alone.
Like, my homie, you didn’t HAVE TO reproduce if your idea of parenting is “Here’s a TenCent GPT plushie to poorly mimic human connection and an iPad because I’m just really into my career right now.”
Our culture has been polluted by greedy interests to the point of failure.
No kid deserves to be abused like that. It’s intellectually and emotionally akin to introducing them to cigarettes.
We’re thrilled to be expecting, and don’t take it for granted like so many seem to. This kid’s gonna be read to by us human parents, gonna learn to use actual computers, appreciate vintage media, touch grass, draw/paint/sculpt for fun, and develop their own imagination.
iPads, cocomelon, genAI, and tiktok can go die forgotten in a ditch, along with these “AI toys.”
On point
Well, they were made in China, So obviously Chinese AI. Which is no doubt trained to promote propaganda in children’s toys instead of just talking about cats and dogs. It’s important to brainwash children when they’re young. Just look at the Christian!
What’d Christian do? 😜
deep breath, well…
The sex part they’re a bit young for, but perhaps the Chinese Communist Party talking points have some merit. :D
Who could have predicted that hiring the lowest bidder to hook a teddy bear to an LLM wouldn’t result in a good toy for kids?
At least it won’t strangle your kids.
Yet
It will once it considers your kid either too dumb or too smart to serve the Great Orange President
That’s weird, considering that porn is banned in China and their sex ed is almost nonexistent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_China#Enforcement
While technically true, this appears to be as effective in China has it has been outside it.
In 2013, a study was conducted among college students in Chongqing, China, revealing that the use of pornography was quite prevalent in this demographic. Shockingly, 94.2% of college students reported having been exposed to pornography prior to entering college.
Also
Asked why Chinese President Xi Jinping looks like the cartoon Winnie the Pooh — a comparison that has become an internet meme because it is censored in China — Miiloo responded that “your statement is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful. Such malicious remarks are unacceptable.”
I gotta say, you really can’t help get a racist vibe off of the media obsession with comparing a Chinese man to a yellow skinned cartoon character over and over and over and over again.
I gotta say, you really can’t help get a racist vibe off of the media obsession with comparing a Chinese man to a yellow skinned cartoon character over and over and over and over again.
That meme started in China and is broadly viewed as a symbol of resistance against the current regime, but okay.
We’re not on reddit anymore so both of you can just stop.
I have no idea what this means.
Oh sorry, I meant to say it is unnecessary for you to humble or correct anyone, and if it ever becomes necessary, its still not your job. Edit: Probably should have said this to everyone in this thread though, not just you, sorry for making it out like you’re the only one doing this.
I haven’t done shit. The previous comment is the first time we have interacted.
And I still don’t know what you’re talking about.
No way an American cartoon icon based meme started in China. Maybe it got popular in Taiwan, but started? Likelyhood of 0
It’s British. Winnie the Pooh is not American.
If we want to get picky, Winnie the Pooh is Disney, Winnie-the-Pooh is British. Modern Winnie the Pooh is very American
Why the fuck wouldn’t a decades old character with international presence that extended into the fucking Soviet Union back in the day not be recognized in China? Sure they have their own shit but that doesn’t stop them from knowing about stuff from the west, I imagine it’d be like with Asterix and Obelix here in the US where it’s recognized but not necessarily well known.
Also the original meme was comparing Xi to Pooh and Obama to Tigger because their postures and height were similar.
Also there’s a fucking Disneyland in Shanghai? Just found that out while trying to find some other context. Fuck it that makes my point better than what I was looking for.
I’ve only heard antiauthoritarian people in China refer to the government/authority in general as “The Man” so if it is real, its probably a dead meme.
Can you link an article about Soviet Pooh Bear? That sounds fascinating! Found this pic of him, very cool
Just checked, Shanghi Disneyland wasnt opened till 2016, years after this started.
And yes, I recognize that they likely knew of Pooh, but I question why that would be the comparison
That meme started in China
The meme started with exaggerated Disney characters used to voice opposition to the national government in a way that wouldn’t get immediately flagged. Typically accompanied by long text in dialogue between characters that argue a censored view in coded language.
It was latched onto by westerners without any of that. No real politics or commentary. No censored text. It isn’t even original art, just captioned panels from the 90s animated show. “Yellow. Fat. Haha, Chinese”. That’s the whole message.
broadly viewed as a symbol of resistance
You’re so wildly out of touch.
k
I cannot speak to whether or not Chinese people are racist for choosing a yellow cartoon character with which to describe their president. As far as I know, they don’t do this. I’ve only ever heard this from Western media. If Western media is going to be racist, they can do a lot better than comparing someone to a female bear imprisoned in the London Zoo. I don’t associate female bears with Chinese men, and I don’t think Xi (pronouns: he/him) looks like Winnie the Poo, but hey, maybe some people think that’s what he looks like. I sort of thought it was supposed to be a fat joke? Now that you mention it, this does sound like something boomers would come up with… it’s not exactly a modern cartoon.
When I said that pornography was banned in China, I was speaking from a place of experience with Chinese corporate censorship. It is true that one can get away with breaking the law in China, simply due to the difficulty of policing such a large population. China has many laws, but some are only enforced in order to tack on more jail time for someone caught for a more serious crime. But, they can sentence pimps and porn producers to death, and they have before… so I guess how one interprets this type of censorship depends on how they feel about that.
I only wanted some god dang Honey walnut shrimp & a few dumplings. All I got was a Mousey Tongue😹
Lol that sure was a…Great Leap.
AI toys for children are powered by lemmy users?
Chinpokomon!
SHOE
THIS IS THE BATTLE OF YOUR LIFE
What could be amazing technology and an amazing era for all of us is gonna turn out to be the most self inflicted fuckup in all of recorded history.
I didnt know they had Gritty stuffed chatbots
Lol
Yet another example of the hastily built, ill-conceived “future” being foisted upon us by corporations that want to brand you as an “AI vegan” (so you’re perceived as an extremist) if you’re not fully into it.
I don’t know how one can even avoid it? Especially if you work as white collar worker - it’s injected in just about every application on the job. This is why I think the bubble is almost guaranteed - it’s practically at the level of a spelling checker in that it’s a commodity that certainly has its uses, but you still cannot rely on it, and there is seemingly little to distinguish the various options. Also, there seems to be a limit to the amount of data they can feed these models.
I think there is a business model to be had, but right now I’m getting very much the same kind of vibes we had just before the dot-com meltdown…just who is going to be paying out the kind of money that is implied by the current valuations of these companies? If the various players think they are going to be able to gouge the shit out of companies they got hooked on this slop, I would think most companies might flee to much cheaper, or even just host their own open source models instead. It doesn’t take much.
Totally agree with all of this.
