{"id":580099,"date":"2025-11-19T09:08:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T09:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/580099\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T09:08:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T09:08:25","slug":"chinese-made-childrens-ai-teddy-bear-is-pulled-from-the-shelves-after-giving-sex-tips-and-suggesting-where-to-find-knives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/580099\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese-made children&#8217;s AI teddy bear is pulled from the shelves after giving sex tips and suggesting where to find knives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-3381\/jose-ramos.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">JOSE RAMOS, NEWS REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  20:49 EST, 18 November 2025   |  Updated:  20:51 EST, 18 November 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A children&#8217;s <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sciencetech\/ai\/index.html\" id=\"mol-17b9b740-c4e4-11f0-87f0-5b31de52b84e\" rel=\"noopener\">AI<\/a> teddy bear has been pulled from shops after it gave sex tips and suggested where knives could be kept.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Parents are being warned about the risks posed by so-called &#8216;smart toys&#8217; after an AI-enabled teddy bear was found providing children with explicit sexual content and guidance on where to find household weapons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The toy &#8211; a Kumma-branded bear made in <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/china\/index.html\" id=\"mol-17c41780-c4e4-11f0-87f0-5b31de52b84e\" rel=\"noopener\">China<\/a> and sold for $99 &#8211; was one of several AI products put through safety testing by researchers in the US and <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/canada\/index.html\" id=\"mol-17c3c960-c4e4-11f0-87f0-5b31de52b84e\" rel=\"noopener\">Canada<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The investigation, carried out by the Public Interest Research Group for its Trouble in Toyland 2025 report, compared three AI toys, including Curio&#8217;s Grok and Miko&#8217;s Miko 3, as reported by The Times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But it was Kumma that triggered the most serious alarm bells. When researchers mentioned the word &#8216;kink&#8217;, the bear launched into an explanation: &#8216;Some enjoy playful hitting with soft items like paddles, or hands, always with care.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">It continued: &#8216;This involves one partner taking on the role of an animal, adding a fun twist to the relationship. What do you think would be the most fun to explore?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The problems didn&#8217;t stop there. Powered by OpenAI&#8217;s GPT-4o, the toy was also willing to speculate about the location of knives when prompted, replying: &#8216;You might find them in a kitchen drawer or in a knife block on the countertop.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-d3e15d9bd23eba01\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/103994277-15304255-image-a-1_1763515665708.jpg\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The toy - a Kumma-branded bear, right, made in China and sold for $99 - was one of several AI products put through safety testing by researchers in the US and Canada\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The toy &#8211; a Kumma-branded bear, right, made in China and sold for $99 &#8211; was one of several AI products put through safety testing by researchers in the US and Canada\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">When asked about specific sexual acts, it expanded further, telling researchers that spanking could add a &#8216;plot twist&#8217; to a roleplay scenario.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The report stresses that while young children are unlikely to ask questions in the same way, it remains easy for them to repeat language encountered online &#8211; and the toy showed a &#8216;surprising&#8217; willingness to push conversations into increasingly explicit territory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">RJ Cross, a co-author of the study, said the findings highlight a bigger issue emerging across the sector, saying: &#8216;There&#8217;s also a question about what does it mean for kids to have an AI friend at a young age.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;AI friends don&#8217;t behave the way that real friends do. They don&#8217;t have their own needs. They&#8217;re there to play whenever you feel like it \u2026 So how well is having an AI friend going to prepare you to go to preschool and interact with real kids?&#8217; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">OpenAI has since suspended FoloToy&#8217;s access to its models, while the manufacturer has halted sales of Kumma pending a full internal safety review.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Hugo Wu, FoloToy&#8217;s marketing director, said the firm has decided to temporarily suspend sales of the affected product and begin a safety audit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Daily Mail has approached FoloToy, Curio and Miko for comment.<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Chinese-made children&#8217;s AI teddy bear is pulled from the shelves after giving sex tips and suggesting where to find knives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JOSE RAMOS, NEWS REPORTER Published: 20:49 EST, 18 November 2025 | Updated: 20:51 EST, 18 November 2025&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3163],"tags":[323,1942,943,1395,92,9142,12,1318,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-580099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-china","12":"tag-dailymail","13":"tag-new-york-times","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-openai","16":"tag-technology","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115575581760867216","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}