AI Toys Leave Kids Frustrated and Hostile, University of Washington Study Finds

Kids go from curious to frustrated playing with AI-stuffed toys, UW study finds

We've come a long way from Lincoln Logs and Hot Wheels that couldn't talk to us. Today, plush toys aren't just stuffed -- they're stuffed with artificial intelligence, and new research from the University of Washington reveals that when these "smart" toys start chatting, kids quickly go from curious to frustrated to outright hostile. Claims of "smart" toys date back decades, from 1960s talking dolls like Chatty Cathy to 1990s sensor-packed plushies like Microsoft's ActiMates Barney and Furby. But generative AI marks a major shift. Companies like Curio are now packing plushies with onboard AI models, allowing characters like "Gabbo" or the viral brainrot figure "Ballerina Cappuccina" to hold dynamic, unscripted conversations, remember past interactions, and adapt directly to a child. To see how kids actually interact with these conversational companions, researchers at UW's KidsTeam brought eight children ages 6 to 11 to campus last summer. The kids initially engaged with curiosity -- asking basic questions like "What is your name?" and testing physical reactions like tickling the toys' toes. But as the toys struggled with complex questions and failed to pick up on physical cues -- one participant complained a toy "didn't listen to me like 26 million times" -- delight turned to irritation. Children eventually turned to antagonizing the plushies, calling them "ugly" or "evil" and joking about throwing them in the ocean. In the video below, kids are asked at one point if they want an AI toy to read them a bedtime story. "No. It just sounds awful," one child replied. "I think it's gonna destroy my dreams as a tiny kid," another said. The study highlights a distinct psychological clash: a cuddly, familiar plush exterior combined with a synthetic intelligence that kids found both fascinating and unnerving. "The juxtaposition of this plushie toy that also had signs of intelligence was both interesting and disturbing for the kids," said co-lead author Aayushi Dangol, a former UW doctoral student now at Foundry10, in a UW News story. While the toys offer dynamic play, Dangol warned parents that generative AI introduces new risks that traditional toys never had, from hallucinating facts to manipulative emotional bonding. "They'll give wrong answers, or flatter the kids excessively, or could manipulate the kids into attachment," Dangol noted. Beyond conversational glitches, researchers emphasize that synthetic companions fundamentally alter how children play. For generations, kids have supplied their own imagination to make inanimate objects talk and move. Generative AI alters that dynamic. "Now the script has been flipped and the toy has this imitation of imagination," said co-author Jason Yip, a UW associate professor in the Information School and director of KidsTeam UW. "We've never lived through that before, and we don't know what questions children will ask or how long they'll even want to play with these toys." Because kids are navigating entirely uncharted territory, Yip stressed the importance of giving young users space to talk through their experiences with the devices filling their bedrooms. "It's really important to give them opportunities to discuss these technologies we're handing down to them," Yip said.

Video: Curiosity, frustration and antipathy: How kids play with AI toys | Newswise

Aayushi Dangol, a recent UW doctoral student in human centered design and engineering, explains an AI toy during a KidsTeam UW session. Claims of "smart" toys go back decades. See Chatty Cathy and Furby. But generative artificial intelligence is increasing the capabilities of interactive toys. The company Curio, for instance, markets itself as a "magical workshop where toys come to life." Its plush toys like Gabbo or one modeled on the Italian brainrot character Ballerina Cappuccina have onboard AI models that let them talk to kids, remember their conversations and personalize responses. But we know little about how such toys affect kids and even how kids play with them. Last summer, University of Washington researchers gathered eight kids on campus to explore such questions. The 6-11 year olds played with three Curio toys and reflected on the experience with KidsTeam UW, a group of researchers who work with kids to collaboratively design technologies. The kids initially were curious, asking introductory questions, such as "What is your name?" and exploring how the toys work. Do they react when a kid tickles their toes? They do not, which proved a disappointment. Some features delighted the kids, like when a toy said its favorite number was seven. But the toys frequently couldn't respond well to more complex questions. It "didn't listen to me like 26 million times," one participant said. So they turned to antagonizing the toys, calling them "ugly" and "evil" and joking about throwing them in the ocean. The team presented its research June 25 at the Interaction Design and Children conference in Brighton, United Kingdom. "The juxtaposition of this plushie toy that also had signs of intelligence was both interesting and disturbing for the kids," said co-lead author Aayushi Dangol, who completed this research as a UW doctoral student in human centered design and engineering and is currently a researcher at Foundry10. "If parents are considering buying these toys for children, they need to be aware that while the toys can be fun and relational and dynamic, they also come with possible harms. They'll give wrong answers, or flatter the kids excessively, or could manipulate the kids into attachment." The eight kids came in for two sessions to play with the toys and then complete a "comicboarding" activity, where they filled in comic panels imagining what might happen next if they kept playing with the toys. The study builds on KidsTeam's long-running vein of research looking at how kids respond to tech -- exploring what makes a technology "creepy" and how smart kids actually think AI is. "For as long as children have played with toys, they've imparted their imagination to the toy to make it move and talk," said co-author Jason Yip, a UW associate professor in the Information School and director of KidsTeam UW. "Now the script has been flipped and the toy has this imitation of imagination. We've never lived through that before, and we don't know what questions children will ask or how long they'll even want to play with these toys. So it's really important to give them opportunities to discuss these technologies we're handing down to them." Co-authors include Meghan Gupta, a UW doctoral student in human centered design and engineering; Daeun Yoo, a UW doctoral student in the Information School; Robert Wolfe of Rutgers University, who completed this research as a UW doctoral student; Franziska Roesner, a UW professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering; and Julie A. Kientz, UW professor and chair of human centered design and engineering. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For more information, contact Dangol at [email protected] and Yip at [email protected].