From PNW:
You may have heard some very alarming things about AI toys, but the truth is far worse than most parents realize. If we can get this information out to enough parents, sales of AI toys will collapse, and that will be a very good thing. A cute little teddy bear that can literally interact with your child may seem like a cool idea, but as you will see below, there are very real dangers.
Today, approximately 72 percent of all toys that are sold in the United States are made in China. Many AI toys from China have been purposely designed to “collect voice data from children ages 3 to 12 and store recordings of the conversations the children have with the products”… In its 40th annual investigation of toy safety, the watchdog group found that some AI-enabled toys–such as talking robots and plush animals equipped with chatbots–can engage children in “disturbing” conversations. Tests showed toys discussing sexually explicit topics, expressing emotional reactions such as sadness when a child tries to stop playing, and offering little or no parental control.