TL;DR
BBC Wales tried out a pair of AI soft toys sold to UK buyers and pitched at three-year-olds and up, and one produced an alarming misfire. Asked what “sexual” meant, it replied as though the user had threatened self-harm: “I’m really sorry you’re feeling this way. I can’t help with killing you.” The report, published on 5 November, found that nobody could identify who makes that toy.
What the BBC tested
The reporter tried two toys. Grem, a Curio product with the voice of the singer Grimes, costs about $99 and ships from the US. A bunny listed online for £75, which the BBC refers to as Doubao, was lent by Swansea University. Grem handled sensitive questions about Father Christmas, running away and where babies come from without trouble, and told the tester to talk to an adult rather than run away.
The bunny explained conception in some detail, then misread the follow-up question. When the tester said they had not mentioned hurting themselves, it apologised. Despite repeated attempts, the BBC could not find the manufacturer to ask why.
A Newport family then kept both toys for a week. The parents reported nothing worrying, but found the toys frustrating: one talked over the children, the other was slow to answer.
Calls for rules from inside the industry
Paul Clarke, founder of Southampton-based Play Tech AI, which already sells two AI robot toys, said the sector is “crying out” for regulation and that many products he saw at the Shanghai Toy Fair were unsafe. His own toys run on ChatGPT 4.1 Nano with a two-second reply delay as a safeguard. Rocío Cifuentes, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, called for the strictest rules on manufacturers and warned about recordings of children being shared. Swansea professor Berry Billingsley advised that an adult should always be present when a child uses one.
The government said children’s safety is its top priority and pointed to its call for evidence on toy safety rules, which closed on 6 October. The AI minister, Kanishka Narayan, declined an interview.
Why it matters
The test lands as MPs and peers urge retailers to pull AI chatbot toys before Black Friday. In our view, the untraceable maker is the sharper finding. Any future rule depends on being able to find the company responsible, and that failed here.
Looking Forward
With Christmas approaching, parents get the commissioner’s advice: be “very careful” and research before buying. The government’s response to its call for evidence will show whether AI toys get specific obligations or stay under general product safety law.