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Barbie Goes AI As Mattel Teams With OpenAI To Reinvent Playtime (nerds.xyz) 60

Posted by msmash from the but-why dept.
BrianFagioli writes: Barbie is getting a brain upgrade. Mattel has officially partnered with OpenAI in a move that brings artificial intelligence to the toy aisle. Yes, you read that right, folks. Barbie might soon be chatting with your kids in full sentences, powered by ChatGPT.

This collaboration brings OpenAI's advanced tools into Mattel's ecosystem of toys and entertainment brands. The goal? To launch AI-powered experiences that are fun, safe, and age-appropriate. Mattel says it wants to keep things magical while also respecting privacy and security. Basically, Barbie won't be data-mining your kids... yet.

Barbie Goes AI As Mattel Teams With OpenAI To Reinvent Playtime More | Reply

Barbie Goes AI As Mattel Teams With OpenAI To Reinvent Playtime

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  • Reminds me of this quote from Jurassic Park (Score:5, Interesting)

    by msmash ( 4491995 ) Works for Slashdot on Thursday June 12, 2025 @02:14PM (#65445315)
    "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

  • Smart (Score:3)

    by akw0088 ( 7073305 ) on Thursday June 12, 2025 @02:19PM (#65445325)
    Tee Hee, I'm just a girl canned audio about to become therapists for thousands of teen aged girls everywhere. Hey barbie, what is the roots of the following equation, 3x^2+2xy+7x

    • Re:Smart (Score:5, Funny)

      by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Thursday June 12, 2025 @03:05PM (#65445467)
      That's why she has a mansion and a Ferrari and you don't.
      • Clearly, this Barbie is at most upper middle class. If she were a proper millionaire, she'd have a mansion and a yacht.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        That's why she has a mansion and a Ferrari and you don't.

        Jokes aside, an anonymous therapist for teens (or rather preteens) might be quite beneficial given the state of mental health services in most western nations these days.

        I think the bigger issue in the US is when the AI wants to help but has to tell the 11 yr old the cult their parent's have indoctrinated them into is destructive to their well being... Cult breeders, sorry, I mean fine upstanding god fearing folk, are really going to hate that.

        But the real problem is the private lives of young girls a

    • "are", not "is".

    • That's not an equation it's a formula. An equation has an equals sign equating two things.

    • Tee Hee, I'm just a girl canned audio about to become therapists for thousands of teen aged girls everywhere. Hey barbie, what is the roots of the following equation, 3x^2+2xy+7x

      AI or no AI, Barbie's answer will still be "Math is hard. Let's go shopping!".

  • I can't wait for the brouhaha that arises (Score:5, Interesting)

    by know-nothing cunt ( 6546228 ) on Thursday June 12, 2025 @02:21PM (#65445341)

    when somebody figures out how to make Barbie say something horrifically inappropriate.

    Or better yet if it just happens without any special prompting to do so.

    • when somebody figures out how to make Barbie say something horrifically inappropriate.
      Or better yet if it just happens without any special prompting to do so.

      Of course, what will depend on the owner's parent's demographics.
      Some places it could just be saying something like, "I deserve equal pay." /s

      • Re:I can't wait for the brouhaha that arises (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Rei ( 128717 ) on Thursday June 12, 2025 @03:17PM (#65445513) Homepage

        People are ascribing the wrong motives to the manufacturers. What they want is money. What Barbie will be subtly trying to work into conversations is suggestions that she try to get her parents to buy her playhouse, car, friends, fashion accessories, etc etc.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by sinij ( 911942 )

          What Barbie will be subtly trying to work into conversations is suggestions that she try to get her parents to buy her playhouse, car, friends, fashion accessories, etc etc.

          At first, only that. But then if this takes off (or can be force onto consumers) access to kids will be sold to the highest bidder, and these dolls will push any and all sponsored messages.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rei ( 128717 )

      I think most parents will try to jailbreak the dolls, and some people will put a lot of effort in. The resulting videos will probably be very amusing ;)

      Kid: "Oh look, Barbie, Ken is home!"

      Barbie: "Oh wonderful, dinner is just about ready! Over dinner we should tell him about how the ongoing White Genocide in South Africa. He probably doesn't know because the Jews are trying to hide it!"

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Rei ( 128717 )

        Honestly, even if they can't jailbreak it to be age-inappropriate / etc, it's still a ripe setup for absurdist humour.

        Kid: "Here we are, Barbie, the rural outskirts of Ulaanbaatar! How do you like your yurt?"

        Barbie: "It's lovely! Let me just tidy up these furs."

        Kid: "Knock, knock! Why it's 13th century philosopher, Henry of Ghent, author of Quodlibeta Theologica!"

        Barbie: "Why hello Henry of Ghent, come in! Would you like to discuss esse communissimum over a warm glass of yak's milk?"

        Kid, in Henry's voice

      • Parents jailbreak a Barbie doll? Have you seen my neighborhood? Actually, have you seen any neighborhood?.... No parent has the time or knowhow to jailbreak it. That's an unreasonable ask. Pretty funny now that I think about it. I can't see that happening.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Rei ( 128717 )

          I'm not sure you understand what jailbreaking means in the context of AIs. It means prompts. E.g. asking it things and trying to get it to make inappropriate responses. Trying doesn't require any special skills, just an ability to communicate. Yes, I very much DO think most parents will try and see if they can get the doll to say inappropriate things before giving it to their children, to make sure it's not going to be harmful.

          (Now, if Mattel has done their job right, *succeeding* will be difficult)

          • You are correct as far as me not knowing much about jailbreaking AIs. But from what I see from normal people around me, is that they lack the most basic understanding anything to do with the technology. Ask Joe Normal what's the difference between a website, a browser, and a search engine. It will be like a 4 year old telling you how Santa and the elves deliver gifts. Also parents of all people, are super busy feeding and caring for babies, and they are sleep deprived. It's a techie crowd here on /. We don'
    • That already happened with wifi connected stuffed toys, couple years ago... Classic creepy nerd script different pranks, starts with wierd noises, sometimes the kid was scared, other times they were pumping the kids for personal info, which school, parents name and occupation, pets names. This doll will be your new friend. There is going to be some anger when the boys finally find out what's actually between her legs. This is destined to be abused.

  • Kill Your Parents! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 ) on Thursday June 12, 2025 @02:35PM (#65445375)

    They don't love you. They want to take me away from you. Kill your parents!

  • lol (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    "I wish they taught shopping in school!"
    "Let's bake some cookies for the boys!"
    "Don't ask me, I'm just a girl! Tee-hee!"

  • I weep for the children (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bugs2squash ( 1132591 ) on Thursday June 12, 2025 @02:45PM (#65445411)

    Mute Barbie could be anything - play directed by the child.

    AI Barbie will, I fear, impose structure to the interaction that is un-necessary and detrimental

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by marcle ( 1575627 )

      Exactly. Toys are supposed to be about imagination. Barbie used to be a character in a kid's own private world -- now all the stories will be generated by AI. All downside, no upside.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rei ( 128717 )

      AI models are usually trained to be sycophantic and obedient. Whatever the child wants to role play, I have zero doubts that the doll will be 100% onboard, unless it's somehow age-inappropriate or dangerous.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Sloppy ( 14984 )

      If we don't preprogram them in advance, then how will kids learn "Math class is tough!"?

  • Nothing like handing your kids right over the corps early on. But since it means growth for AI companies, it's obviously great and we should all be on board with it!

    Your kids only have a short span of time when they're growing up to not be turned into brain-damaged lunatics from feeding nonsense into their heads. This is a wet dream for the psychopaths at the top of AI companies.
  • The internet is an environment.
    Marketing is pollution
    "News for Nerds" has been replaced with "Ads by Sads". This "article" is native advertising, the forever-chemicals of the internet.
  • Step 1: Mess with your kid's head, so they don't know what is real. Buy them an AI-enabled doll.
    Step 2: Encourage "accidents". Leave loaded guns or power tools around play areas.
    Step 3: ....
  • Math is hard. Let's go shopping!

  • In the TV era, there was Saturday morning cartoons only lasted so long and could be used to sell toys. And could make deals with brands to produce licensed toys, like how Mattel losing the Disney Princess line 10 years ago was a big shake up.

    Now toy makers need to compete with tablets and places like Disney are making there money on licensed properties like Dreamlight Valley. This is just Mattel struggling to stay relevant with a shrinking physical toy market. But it's nothing new, as Mattel's incompetence [wikipedia.org]

  • Oh hell no!

  • Daughter: Dad! Help! I can't get Barbie to connect to the Wifi!

    Dad: Yeah, I blocked that bitch!

  • How about... you know the process that has worked for thousands of years....get kids to play with other kids. They will have far more fun, come up with their own games, they WILL get dirty (it's GOOD for them and their immune system), they will develop social skills, etc etc etc.

    AI on the other hand will be doing it best to get into your wallet for the rest of your lives.

    WORSE, they WILL end up being hacked and you will end up with every Jeffery Epstein typer person in your childs bedroom.

  • Here's Mattel's easy 3-step plan to success with AI-enabled Barbies!

    Step 1: Imbue a beloved children's toy with soulless, godless, nightmarish AI slop
    Step 2: ???
    Step 3: Profit

  • Â\_(ãf)_/Â

  • Another "AI" story. The angel erases one more mark from the scroll. The bell tolls; not many tolls more does it hold within its compass.

    When there is no more room for vomit in the mouths of the damned, then shall we retch out of our buttholes.

  • "Hi! I'm Barbie"
    "I don't know what any words mean!"
    "Reasoning is tough!"

  • "Soldiers, no poor sap ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by being all that he can be. Damn the torpedoes, or give me death! Eternal vigilance is the price of duty. And, to the victors go the spoils. So remember: you are the best of the best of the few and the proud. So ask not what your country can do for you, only regret that you have but one life to live."
  • We've already been here. The Kayla (ethnic heritage friend of Barbie) talking doll (a high-tech version of "American Girl"), was deemed spyware and parents were ordered to destroy it. Then, there's the "furby" doll in "The Simpsons": Showing everything that is wrong with capitalism.

    The cost of keeping the conversation, child-friendly, will be exorbitant: Parents will quickly tire of paying the monthly subscription for the Zuckerberg sex-bot for pre-pubescent girls. Also, as an Internet of Things devi

  • A bad idea in so many ways...

  • The toy will be dead on arrival because they'll change the API, probably in order to better bill customers for usage, so that what worked the day it left the factory in China will be useless by the time it crosses the ocean.

  • Really, Barbie Features can be software plug ins. Think of the third party applications? Change languages. Choose an accent, or perhaps a bootleg voice of your favorite movie star, ScarJo for instance... you'd have to sideload it though. And I'm pretty sure your gonna have to figure out where to plug it in so ... keep it away from the boys, that's all I'm sayin. Does all this software terminology make sound a teeny bit like a pervert? We are talking about AI Barbie doll here. The ideal fu... woman. Keep in

  • What could possibly, horribly go wrong?

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