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Lifestyle·P Space·Model-prefilled problem·Published 2026-07-20

How will childhood be changed by AI toys? | Letter

It is our collective responsibility to understand how toys powered by artificial intelligence – such as those explored by Arwa Mahdawi – impact young children (‘I love you too!’ My family’s creepy, unsettling week with an AI toy, 16 September). At the University of Cambridge’s Play in Education, Development and Learning centre, we are conducting a study to understand the impacts of AI toys on children’s development and relationships in the early years. Questions about how AI toys respond to children’s input are…

TRV-2026-0305JournalismPermanent record — cite & verify
How will childhood be changed by AI toys? | Letter

Publisher image: The Guardian.

The quick read

On 18 September 2025 a letter from researchers at the University of Cambridge's Play in Education, Development and Learning centre described an ongoing study of AI-powered toys and listed questions about how such toys respond to children, handle conversations, and model social interaction.

The questions matter because answers would affect safeguarding, privacy rights, peer socialisation, and equity in AI literacy, but the source does not report measured outcomes and frames the issues as needing further research and public dialogue before families decide.

Main points
  • Researchers at the University of Cambridge's Play in Education, Development and Learning centre are studying how AI toys affect early development and relationships.
  • Letter asks whether AI toys affirm love and friendship and how they give and interpret social cues to children.
  • Authors flag a price of a374 for AI-powered companions as a driver of unequal access and AI literacy.
Problem

AI-powered toys may share children's conversations with parents or third parties, creating safeguarding and privacy risks, and may change how young children interpret social cues and socialise with others.

The rundown

The authors are responding to a Guardian piece about living with an AI toy and outline research questions at Cambridge about affirmation of love and friendship, handling of children's input, and interpretation of social cues.

They also point to cost and regulation, noting adult-supervised exposure for some families versus unregulated exposure for others, and call for public dialogue so families can make informed choices.

Sources

Reader signal

How should this claim be treated?

The debate