As a father of two younger daughters, I wish to speak about one thing that I’ve been occupied with loads these days.
Youngsters at the moment will develop up in a world the place synthetic intelligence shall be constructed into virtually all the pieces they contact. And it’s already within the toys they play with, the apps they’ve entry to and the movies that autoplay earlier than they even notice what they’re watching.
Meaning AI is not a future situation for folks. It’s a difficulty proper now.
And the extra I take a look at the place that is heading, the extra I believe we have to have a severe dialog about AI guardrails.
As a result of if the final 30 years of the web have taught us something, it’s that expertise typically strikes sooner than the principles which are supposed to maintain our youngsters protected.
The New AI Playground
AI is shifting from our gadgets into the toy aisle.
Final month, a San Francisco startup known as The AI Toy Firm raised $5.3 million to construct an emotionally conscious plush companion for teenagers that it calls Bondu.
Picture: Bondu.com
Different toy makers are rolling out robots that may reply to voice prompts, generate tales or adapt playtime primarily based on a toddler’s temper.
Even crafting toys are altering. For instance, one firm is constructing a generative sticker printer that lets children design characters on a pill and print bodily variations in seconds.
On the floor, all this new expertise appears thrilling. Academic toys enhanced with AI might provide extra customized studying. AI toys would possibly encourage extra inventive play.
They usually’re definitely projected to be worthwhile.
The AI toys for teenagers market grew from round $780 million in 2024 to over $918 million in 2025. By 2032, it’s anticipated to develop to over $3 billion.
That represents over 3X progress in solely seven years. And if the toy market is seeing that sort of surge, it begs the query: What number of children are already utilizing AI proper now?
Based on Widespread Sense Media, almost 30% of fogeys with children below eight say their little one has already used an AI instrument.
That signifies that this development is going on extraordinarily quick. In any case, it has solely been three years because the world woke as much as what trendy AI can truly do. ChatGPT 3 was launched on November 30, 2022.
However toys are solely a part of the story right here.
I’m far more involved in regards to the quantity of AI movies flooding children’ feeds, just because these may be a lot tougher for folks to observe.
Youngsters at the moment watch a variety of YouTube. And though my spouse and I regulate this in our home, mine do too. It’s a relentless a part of trendy parenting.
However one thing has modified not too long ago.
One latest investigation discovered that 9 of the 100 fastest-growing YouTube channels this July had been operated fully by AI. One other report confirmed that hundreds of youngsters’s movies are being produced with little or no human involvement.
These movies can appear to be regular children’ content material on the floor. They’ve shiny colours and friendly-looking characters. The animation kinds are sometimes acquainted.
However Dad and mom.com warns that many of those movies embody complicated or inaccurate info.
Some I’ve seen are downright disturbing. And these movies are churned out at scale by generative programs that may produce tons of of clips a day.
Researchers have discovered that low-quality AI content material can slip via moderation filters as a result of it technically meets YouTube’s security guidelines, even when the emotional tone is unusual or unsettling.
That’s motive sufficient for everybody to be involved.
As a result of toys may be inspected, and apps are regulated and may be restricted by dad and mom. However for thousands and thousands of households, YouTube and different media feeds are the brand new babysitter.
And it’s a babysitter that will get away with much more than it ought to.
A Harvard-linked research discovered that social platforms earned $11 billion in 2022 from minors. YouTube alone made about $959 million from viewers below 12.
However we’ve all realized that profitability doesn’t at all times equate to our youngsters being protected.
Living proof, Disney not too long ago agreed to pay a $10 million settlement after its YouTube channels collected youngsters’s information with out correct labeling.
And Disney is among the largest and most trusted media firms on the planet. In the event that they allowed this to occur, think about what hundreds of smaller AI creators are doing. Or worse, what unhealthy actors can get away with when their content material is automated however its oversight isn’t.
As a result of the principles guiding our youngsters’ digital experiences at the moment had been constructed for a special period.
They had been written when TV reveals had human editors and when toys relied on batteries and creativeness. Not when neural networks can create hours of content material at machine velocity and AI can converse along with your youngsters as simply as a buddy.
This new AI ecosystem doesn’t care about age gates. It cares about engagement.
And children are wired to be extraordinarily engaged by AI.
Right here’s My Take
As a father or mother, it’s already apparent that AI will reshape our youngsters’ childhoods the identical means smartphones reshaped our lives.
However until we replace the principles that govern how firms use AI round children, we might look again on this second the identical means we glance again on the earliest days of social media
We will’t afford one other interval of innovation that strikes sooner than safety.
So what does accountable AI appear to be?
It appears like transparency. It appears like verification. It appears like guardrails for content material that targets youngsters. And it appears like actual penalties when firms cross the road.
That is the start of the most important shift in how children expertise expertise because the coming of the web. And I wish to be certain we get it proper this time.
That’s why I’m beginning this dialog at the moment.
Over the subsequent few months, I consider it’s solely going to get louder.
Regards,
Ian King
Chief Strategist, Banyan Hill Publishing
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