Have the chatbots packed in cute stuffed animals offer a viable alternative to screen time for children?
This is how companies that sell these companions for children fed by AI market them, but Amanda Hess of the New York Times has reserves. She tells of a demonstration in which Grem, one of the offers of the Startup Curio, tried to bond with her. (Curio also sells a plush called Grok, without apparent connection with the chatbot belonging to Elon Musk.)
Hess writes that it was at this point that she knew: “I would not present Grem to my own children.” While she was talking to the chatbot, she became convinced that it was “less an upgrade to the lifeless teddy bear” and “more like a replacement for me”.
She also maintains that even if these talking toys can keep children away from a tablet or a television screen, what they really communicate is that “the natural termination point for curiosity (children) lies in their phones”.
Hess reports that she finally let her children play with Grem – but only after having removed and hidden the vocal box. They always talked about it and played games with it; Then they were ready for a television.
