{"id":6819,"date":"2025-11-19T15:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/amazon-openai-teddy-bears\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T15:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:09:11","slug":"amazon-openai-teddy-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/amazon-openai-teddy-bears\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon Still Selling Multiple OpenAI-Powered Teddy Bears, Even After They Were Pulled Off the Market"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last week, OpenAI said it cut off the toymaker FoloToy\u2019s access to its AI models<\/a> after the AI-powered teddy bear \u201cKumma,\u201d which ran GPT-4o, was found giving responses that were wildly inappropriate for children<\/a> \u2014 including discussing sexual fetishes, and giving instructions on how to find knives and light matches.<\/p>\n

The move signaled that the ChatGPT-maker was clearly concerned about how its business customers, especially ones selling products for children, were using its tech, or at least how these efforts looked. But it also raised the question of what else OpenAI was doing to regulate its role in this brave new world of AI chatbot-powered toys: is it behaving proactively by seeking out customers that are misusing its tech, or just acting reactively in response to unflattering headlines?<\/p>\n

Signs point to the latter. On Amazon, for instance, several AI teddy bears claiming to run ChatGPT or some form of OpenAI model remain available for sale even after the company cut ties with FoloToy.<\/p>\n

One, called \u201cPoe the AI Story Bear\u201d sold by the San Francisco startup PLAi, was prominently featured by CNET<\/em><\/a> <\/em>last year. Also powered by GPT-4o, Poe\u2019s selling point is that it can create magical, custom bedtime stories for children on the fly, which it reads in an AI voice synthesized using tech from the firm ElevenLabs, according to a press release<\/a>. It also claims to only produce \u201c100% safe content\u201d for children using \u201cPlay Safe technology.\u201d Over fifty have been sold in the past month, the Amazon page<\/a> says.<\/p>\n

Others seem pointedly dubious. A brand called \u201cEBLOMA\u201d sells an AI-powered teddy bear under various names, including \u201cWITPAW.\u201d The product\u2019s Amazon listing<\/a> says that the stuffed animal was \u201cbuilt with ChatGPT,\u201d and is capable of providing \u201cemotional support\u201d and \u201ccontinuous companionship.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s striking. Many AI chatbot providers \u2014 and AI toymakers \u2014 have avoided giving their models long-term \u201cmemory\u201d across conversations amid concerns about the dangerous emotional and psychological effects<\/a> that an AI\u2019s sycophantic responses can have on users. EBLOMA, meanwhile, proudly boasts that its toy will be as familiar with your child as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWITPAW understands tone, remembers names, and grows with your child \u2014 making every interaction feel personal and real,\u201d its website<\/a> reads. (Its marketing materials are also riddled with seemingly AI-generated copy, like you can see in the image at the top of this story, as well as text proclaiming users can \u201cExperience Scenarios.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Have you or your family had strange interactions with an AI-powered toy? Reach out at tips@futurism.com<\/a>. We can keep you anonymous.<\/em><\/p>\n

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment when asked if it had determined if these products are up to its own safety standards. Elaborating on its decision to block FoloToy, an OpenAI spokesperson recently told Gizmodo<\/em><\/a> that the company\u2019s \u201cusage policies prohibit any use of our services to exploit, endanger, or sexualize anyone under 18 years old. These rules apply to every developer using our API, and we monitor and enforce them to ensure our services are not used to harm minors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scrutiny into AI-powered toys comes after a report<\/a> from the safety group PIRG detailed how several of these children\u2019s products gave egregiously inappropriate responses, especially during longer conversations. Among the tested toys was FoloToy\u2019s Kumma, which was caught explaining how to find and light matches. But its most alarming blunder was openly discussing sexual \u201ckinks,\u201d including bondage and teacher-student roleplay.<\/p>\n

In response to the findings, a company spokesperson told PIRG that it was temporarily suspending sales of all FoloToy products. \u201cWe are now carrying out a company-wide, end-to-end safety audit across all products,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

More on AI:<\/strong> Child Development Researcher Issues Warning About AI-Powered Teddy Bears Flooding Market Before Christmas<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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The post Amazon Still Selling Multiple OpenAI-Powered Teddy Bears, Even After They Were Pulled Off the Market<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Last week, OpenAI said it cut off the toymaker FoloToy\u2019s access to its AI models after the AI-powered teddy bear \u201cKumma,\u201d which ran GPT-4o, was found giving responses that were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,3841,179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","category-ethics","category-openai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}