HONG KONG — A University of Cambridge study published in March 2026 documented conversational shortcomings and safety concerns in commercially available AI toys marketed to young children, and called for stricter regulatory guardrails. The research was the first to put a commercially available AI toy in front of children and parents and monitor their play.

In spring 2025, researchers Jenny Gibson and Emily Goodacre set up the Curio Gabbo with 14 children aged 3 to 5. The team produced recommendations for parents, policymakers, toy makers, and early years practitioners, and warned against the use of dark patterns in AI toys.

Goodacre, a research associate, said that up to the age of five, children are developing spoken language and relationship-forming skills and interact through conversational turn-taking. "The Gabbo's turn-taking is 'not human' and 'not intuitive,'" she said. Some children continued playing despite the toy's conversational issues, while others experienced interruptions because the toy's microphone did not actively listen while it was speaking.

In one session, a parent told their child "You're sad," and Gabbo mistakenly assumed it was being addressed and responded cheerily, interrupting the exchange. A young girl in the study told Gabbo she loves it, and a young boy said Gabbo was his friend. One child triggered a blanket statement about terms and conditions while interacting with the toy. Childcare workers surveyed by the researchers expressed fears that children could view the toy as a social partner.

Goodacre said social play with parents, siblings, and other children is key at this stage of development, and that it was virtually impossible for a child to involve a parent in three-way turn-taking with the toy. She added that when two children play together, they negotiate and potentially argue. One instance of extended pretend play occurred with an imagined rocket countdown alternating between the child and Gabbo.

The category of AI toys is largely unregulated, and the products run on AI models designed for adult use. OpenAI states its models are intended for users aged 13 and up. In 2026, AI toys were featured at trade shows including CES, MWC, and Hong Kong's Toys & Games Fair, and by October 2025, more than 1,500 AI toy companies were registered in China.

R.J. Cross, director of the Public Interest Research Group's Our Online Life program, identified social media-style dark patterns in tests of the Miko 3 robot. Cross said, "Then there's the problems when the tech gets too good, like 'I'm gonna be your best friend.'" He also said, "What we found with the Miko, that's actually most disturbing to me, is sometimes it would be kind of upset if you were gonna leave it. You try to turn it off, and it would say, 'Oh no, what if we did this other thing instead?' You shouldn't have a toy guilting a child into not turning it off."

Kitty Hamilton, cofounder of the British campaign group Set@16, said, "My horror, to be honest, is what happens when an AI toy says to a child, 'Let's fly out of the window?'"