‘I’m going to throw that thing into a river!” my wife says as she comes down the stairs looking frazzled after putting our four-year-old daughter to bed.
To be clear, “that thing” is not our daughter, Emma*. It’s Grem, an AI-powered stuffed alien toy that the musician Claire Boucher, better known as Grimes, helped develop with toy company Curio. Designed for kids aged three and over and built with OpenAI’s technology, the toy is supposed to “learn” your child’s personality and have fun, educational conversations with them. It’s advertised as a healthier alternative to screen time and is part of a growing market of AI-powered toys.
When I agreed to experiment on my child’s developing brain, I thought an AI chatbot in cuddly form couldn’t be any worse for her than watching Peppa Pig. But I wasn’t prepared for how attached Emma became to Grem, or how unsettlingly obsequious the little alien was.
You can see how Curio’s website could be mistaken for satire. The “girl” in the promotional video is Grimes, who has prominent “alien scar” tattoos and is inexplicably kneeling next to a knife.
I had to reread that part
How this is just a sidenote in the article is beyond me. Why did they intentionally place a knife there? So messed up.
It’s advertised as a healthier alternative to screen time
vaping and e-cigarettes were initially advertised as a way for cigarette smokers to quit.
I’d say that this article’s arguments on not letting a child alone with an AI chatbot are pretty compelling. I think parents should read the article, specifically parents that don’t know much about AI.
Pretty sure there’s multiple movies on why this shouldn’t exist
I certainly wouldn’t trust an AI friend from Grimes for numerous reasons.
