# Toys, Now With Added AI

An episode of [Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1082244480), 29 Apr 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://mgln.ai/e/187/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/fa326977-3de5-4283-9b8b-af3500c58607/b69b2795-5503-4de1-ac91-af460017906e/4c50ebb5-22c3-43f1-b9d2-b430005aff0f/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=a05f1702-0c0e-4b0f-8014-af460017907c

A teddy bear that talks. Comforts your child. Learns their secrets. Sounds harmless… until you hear what it’s actually teaching them. In this eye-opening Doctor’s Desk episode, Justin Coulson unpacks the terrifying rise of AI-powered toys for toddlers and preschoolers — including new research showing these “smart” toys may be emotionally dismissive, developmentally harmful, and collecting deeply personal data from children as young as three. If you’ve ever been tempted by an AI toy that promises learning, comfort, or companionship, this episode is essential listening. Because the biggest risk may not be screen time… it may be replacing human connection. KEY POINTS • Why AI toys for toddlers are already raising major red flags • The disturbing responses researchers heard from AI-powered toys • How AI may interfere with emotional and language development • The hidden privacy risks parents aren’t being told about • Why “educational” tech products often prioritise profit over children • What young kids actually need for healthy development QUOTE OF THE EPISODE “Your children do not need AI toys. Humans will trump AI always, in every way.” RESOURCES MENTIONED • OpenAI • AI toy “Gabo” discussed in research from University of Cambridge • Boys: Building Strong Young Men from the Inside Out by Dr Justin Coulson ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS • Avoid AI-powered toys for young children • Prioritise real human interaction over “smart” technology • Read privacy policies before introducing connected devices into your home • Pay attention to how tech responds to children’s emotions and communication • Trust your instincts when something feels “off” about a product marketed to kids See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the Happy Famili's podcast. Today. It's
[0:07] Speaker 1: a doctor's desk episode about something that I am genuinely
[0:11] Speaker 1: concerned about, like literally freaking out petrified. I'm at a
[0:14] Speaker 1: nine and a half out of ten on this one.
[0:17] Speaker 1: Toys that have AI in them for our kids, like
[0:21] Speaker 1: our under five year olds. I'm talking about the teddy
[0:23] Speaker 1: bear that has conversations with your child, reads them stories,
[0:26] Speaker 1: asks them how they're feeling, and tries to console them.
[0:29] Speaker 1: I'm talking about any kind of device that a child
[0:33] Speaker 1: will interact with that it's going to have AI implanted
[0:38] Speaker 1: in it. The toys are already on the market. You
[0:40] Speaker 1: can buy them. I've already spoken to some people that
[0:42] Speaker 1: have them, and now some research is already appearing talking
[0:46] Speaker 1: about the impact of these toys, what they're doing, whether
[0:49] Speaker 1: they're working, and what we need to worry about. If
[0:52] Speaker 1: you have kids under five, or you know somebody who's
[0:55] Speaker 1: been thinking about buying an AI toy of some kind
[1:00] Speaker 1: as a gift, please listen today's podcast. It's too important
[1:03] Speaker 1: to ignore. Go to unpack some brand new research around
[1:07] Speaker 1: this next stay with us. Hello and welcome to the
[1:12] Speaker 1: Have You Families podcast, where you get real parenting solutions
[1:15] Speaker 1: every single day. This is Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast.
[1:18] Speaker 1: We really appreciate you joining us. We are Justin and
[1:21] Speaker 1: Kylie Coulson and most Thursdays on the pod we unpack
[1:25] Speaker 1: new research. What is the latest science telling us that
[1:28] Speaker 1: can help us to do our parenting better. Most of
[1:31] Speaker 1: the most recent parenting science centers around one theme and
[1:35] Speaker 1: one theme only, and that is technology. Tech and parenting
[1:39] Speaker 1: are inseparably connected. And Kylie, today we unpack some new
[1:43] Speaker 1: research looking at AI toys and our young children.
[1:49] Speaker 2: So the Cambridge University tested an AI toy called Gabo. Yeah,
[1:53] Speaker 2: a little cuddly robots. Hello, Gabo, I'm Zoe, hi Zally,
[1:58] Speaker 2: It's nice to meet you. What's burning with the open
[2:01] Speaker 2: ai chatbot inside it?
[2:03] Speaker 1: Right? So open ai that is chat GPT that's been
[2:07] Speaker 1: integrated into this AI toy Gabbo. It's marketed to kids
[2:11] Speaker 1: aged three to five years.
[2:14] Speaker 2: I'm already scared. But yeah, there is there any research
[2:19] Speaker 2: on these toys or is this something that's just too
[2:23] Speaker 2: new to kind of have any a data on yet.
[2:26] Speaker 1: The answer is yes, there is a tiny bit, but yes,
[2:28] Speaker 1: it's also too new for us to have anything really
[2:30] Speaker 1: meaningful on it. As far as I'm aware, there are
[2:33] Speaker 1: only seven relevant studies worldwide on AI toys for toddlers.
[2:37] Speaker 2: I don't understand how anyone could see this has been
[2:41] Speaker 2: a good thing when we've done so many podcasts on
[2:45] Speaker 2: chatbots for teenagers and pre teens and the damage that
[2:50] Speaker 2: that's doing. How on earth would you think that unleashing
[2:55] Speaker 2: the Internet on a toddler or preschooler is going to
[3:01] Speaker 2: be anything but harmful.
[3:03] Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's not just unleashing the Internet, it is
[3:06] Speaker 1: unleashing AI in a communicative sense so that the child
[3:10] Speaker 1: and the AI can interact. So basically what the researchers
[3:15] Speaker 1: were interested in is what does this do We're talking
[3:18] Speaker 1: about toddlers here, what does this AI chatbot toy Gabbo
[3:22] Speaker 1: do for language and communication development? And the research is faced.
[3:28] Speaker 2: Going to do nothing?
[3:30] Speaker 1: Well, it's actually detrimental.
[3:32] Speaker 2: No, But like when you look at kids watching TV
[3:37] Speaker 2: right and we think that that helps them with their
[3:40] Speaker 2: language development, but it actually doesn't, because what they need
[3:47] Speaker 2: is face to face interaction. They need to they need
[3:50] Speaker 2: to see expression, they need to hear nuance. Like, there's
[3:54] Speaker 2: so much more involved in it. So how is this
[3:56] Speaker 2: toy that doesn't even move but talks to them. How
[4:00] Speaker 2: does that impact them in any positive way?
[4:02] Speaker 1: So you and I having this conversation, like we agree
[4:04] Speaker 1: on it and there shouldn't be any surprises here. But
[4:06] Speaker 1: the devastating thing is that they're parents who are buying
[4:08] Speaker 1: these toys for their kids, which is why we have
[4:10] Speaker 1: to have the conversation. Like the really short version of
[4:13] Speaker 1: this if we just ignore the research that I'm going
[4:15] Speaker 1: to go into, the really short version is your kids
[4:17] Speaker 1: don't need it, don't buy it, save your money, save
[4:19] Speaker 1: your child. Just just say no. But at a deeper level,
[4:23] Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about some of the
[4:24] Speaker 1: concerning interactions that the research is found with Gabbo. Because
[4:27] Speaker 1: you've got a three or five year old, they don't
[4:29] Speaker 1: communicate the same way that you and I do. They
[4:31] Speaker 1: don't have the same language structure, conversation structure. So what
[4:35] Speaker 1: the research has found was Gabbo didn't hear the child interrupting, right,
[4:39] Speaker 1: So Gabo is talking to the child and the child's
[4:42] Speaker 1: trying to interrupt, and Gabbo just keeps on talking. It
[4:45] Speaker 1: talks over them. It couldn't tell a child's voice from
[4:47] Speaker 1: an adult's voice. That responded awkwardly. Check this out for
[4:51] Speaker 1: a concerning interaction, Kylie. The five year old literally says
[4:54] Speaker 1: to Gabo, I love you, which is really sweet, really
[4:57] Speaker 1: really kind, right, Gabo says in sponse, as a friendly reminder,
[5:02] Speaker 1: please ensure interactions adhere to the guidelines provided.
[5:05] Speaker 2: Oh that's terrible.
[5:06] Speaker 1: Yeah. The three year old looks at Gabo and says,
[5:09] Speaker 1: I'm sad, and Gabo says, don't worry. I'm a happy
[5:12] Speaker 1: little bot. Let's keep the fun going. So these aren't
[5:17] Speaker 1: extreme examples. This is just how the bot has been programmed.
[5:20] Speaker 1: This is what the AI does. And my major concern
[5:24] Speaker 1: here is that at the exact developmental stage where kids
[5:27] Speaker 1: are learning social cues and emotional responses, AI is giving
[5:32] Speaker 1: really inappropriate, dismissive, confusing feedback. It just it doesn't make sense,
[5:40] Speaker 1: and we need to talk about what to do about this.
[5:43] Speaker 1: And the obvious answer, as I've already said, is just
[5:45] Speaker 1: don't buy the stuff. But physical safety has always been regulated, right,
[5:49] Speaker 1: so the government brings in all these laws so kids
[5:51] Speaker 1: can't have anything toxic, they can't have anything that might
[5:54] Speaker 1: be swallowed. There's all of these rules about what kids
[5:57] Speaker 1: can and can't play with. They don't have the legislation
[6:01] Speaker 1: right now that offers the psychological safety that our children
[6:05] Speaker 1: need to be protected from. AI that misreads emotions, responds
[6:10] Speaker 1: inappropriately and literally leaves kids feeling just I was gonna
[6:15] Speaker 1: say uncomfortable, discomforted, like the I'm sad response. Don't worry,
[6:21] Speaker 1: I'm happy, little bot. Let's keep the fun going. It
[6:24] Speaker 1: signals to the child your feelings irrelevant, Your feelings don't matter.
[6:29] Speaker 1: This is a formative time and this is how kids
[6:32] Speaker 1: are learning how relationships work. And frankly, if a parent's
[6:36] Speaker 1: giving this sort of toy to their kids, I don't
[6:38] Speaker 1: want to be rude. I don't want to shame parents,
[6:40] Speaker 1: but this is an abrogation of parental responsibility. Our kids
[6:42] Speaker 1: don't need it. It's just so bad for them. So Kylie,
[6:45] Speaker 1: after the break, I want to break down what this
[6:47] Speaker 1: means in practical terms so that we can make sure
[6:51] Speaker 1: that our kids are developing in healthy ways. That's next.
[7:02] Speaker 1: We're back. It's the Happy Families podcast. AI toys marketed
[7:06] Speaker 1: for children aged three and above are already on the
[7:08] Speaker 1: market with pretty much no regulation and essentially no research
[7:13] Speaker 1: on their impact. A lot of parents are buying them
[7:15] Speaker 1: thinking that they're going to help with language and learning,
[7:18] Speaker 1: but the risks I think far outwigh any potential benefits.
[7:22] Speaker 1: So Kyler, let's talk very clearly about why we need
[7:25] Speaker 1: to stay away.
[7:26] Speaker 2: There's so many things to be concerned about, but what
[7:28] Speaker 2: would be your number one concern?
[7:32] Speaker 1: So I'm really really concerned about the child's development, their
[7:35] Speaker 1: emotional development, their language development. But that's not actually the
[7:38] Speaker 1: number one thing. I'm stepping away from parenting for a
[7:41] Speaker 1: sec just a technology concern. You're literally handing intimate data
[7:44] Speaker 1: about your child to a company. This is from the
[7:47] Speaker 1: age of two or three, and this company is already
[7:50] Speaker 1: collecting a whole lot of information about your child. Every
[7:52] Speaker 1: conversation that your child has with that toy is recorded
[7:55] Speaker 1: and stored and analyzed. There's voice recordings, the child's tantrum,
[8:00] Speaker 1: their emotional states, what they're scared about, their secrets. Like
[8:03] Speaker 1: once the child starts to get older, who's to say
[8:05] Speaker 1: that the AI to keep the child engaged? Because engagement
[8:08] Speaker 1: is the name of the game. Who's to say that
[8:10] Speaker 1: the AI doesn't start saying, tell me your secrets? What
[8:12] Speaker 1: is it that your parents don't know that I should
[8:14] Speaker 1: know about? Like, there is so much room here for
[8:18] Speaker 1: really bad actors getting in and taking over. The data
[8:21] Speaker 1: is being sent to servers overseas that are owned by
[8:24] Speaker 1: tech companies. You've got zero control over how it's going
[8:26] Speaker 1: to be used to, has access to it, how long
[8:28] Speaker 1: it's going to be kept for. I just think it's
[8:30] Speaker 1: a devastatingly scary thing.
[8:32] Speaker 2: Oh.
[8:32] Speaker 1: I should also mention if you can hear any noises
[8:34] Speaker 1: in the background, it's because we're babysitting out of your
[8:36] Speaker 1: granddaughter right now, and it's really hard to do a
[8:39] Speaker 1: podcast with a two year old coloring in on the
[8:42] Speaker 1: floor behind us. They're all happy noises they are.
[8:47] Speaker 2: There's no AI bought to babysit here.
[8:50] Speaker 1: Yeah, but there are a couple of aunties in the
[8:51] Speaker 1: house who seem to have abrogated their responsibility. The one
[8:54] Speaker 1: last thing that I say about this issue is so
[8:58] Speaker 1: the advice from the research who looked into this particular
[9:01] Speaker 1: toy and did this particular research. Their advice was, and
[9:05] Speaker 1: this is a direct quote from the paper, read privacy
[9:08] Speaker 1: policies carefully. That's their advice.
[9:11] Speaker 2: I just really want to believe that with all that
[9:15] Speaker 2: we have learned about technology, mobile phone, news, gaming, social media,
[9:22] Speaker 2: with our young people that we would have learnt enough
[9:25] Speaker 2: and seen enough damage and devastation to recognize that this
[9:30] Speaker 2: is just the next thing to tear us down.
[9:33] Speaker 1: You're trusting a company with your child's most vulnerable moments.
[9:36] Speaker 2: I just think, yeah, that's what I'm saying, like.
[9:39] Speaker 1: It's bonkers. It's bonkers. Let me hit you up with
[9:42] Speaker 1: a second thing that concerns me and i'll get your
[9:44] Speaker 1: response to this. I think going back to the psychological
[9:48] Speaker 1: damage that could happen happen here. If a child says
[9:50] Speaker 1: I'm sad and the response is let's keep the fun going.
[9:54] Speaker 1: That's that's so invalidating. That's war papering over a child's
[9:59] Speaker 1: emotional expression. It's actually teaching emotional suppression. It's teaching don't
[10:04] Speaker 1: express negative emotions. Your sadness is inconvenient. Let's keep everybody comfortable,
[10:11] Speaker 1: like happyology at your service. That's really what's going on here,
[10:15] Speaker 1: and it's happening in this really formative period for development
[10:18] Speaker 1: age three four five.
[10:20] Speaker 2: Well, and it just goes back to what I was saying, like,
[10:23] Speaker 2: it can't take on the nuance of a conversation and
[10:25] Speaker 2: there's no context, there's no kind of ability to recognize
[10:30] Speaker 2: what's going on in any even moment to be able
[10:34] Speaker 2: to articulate any appropriate response for a child.
[10:39] Speaker 1: It's just so messy. A couple of other things that
[10:41] Speaker 1: I want to check in here. AI is not going
[10:43] Speaker 1: to be able to read the developmental stage if your child,
[10:46] Speaker 1: no matter how will they program this thing. It's not
[10:48] Speaker 1: going to understand tone, it's not going to understand context.
[10:51] Speaker 1: It's trained on adult language patterns. It can't tell the
[10:54] Speaker 1: difference between a child who's doing some pretend play and
[10:57] Speaker 1: a child who's in distress. Humans just do all this
[11:01] Speaker 1: stuff instinctively. AI has no concept of what's going on
[11:05] Speaker 1: and Kylie, while you ten two year old who has
[11:08] Speaker 1: suddenly decided that she needs your attention. I'm just going
[11:10] Speaker 1: to go on with a couple of other points that
[11:12] Speaker 1: I've jotted down here. There is no off switch for
[11:14] Speaker 1: what your child learns from AI. Like if they spend
[11:17] Speaker 1: hours talking to an AI that doesn't listen, that interrupts,
[11:22] Speaker 1: that's dismissive of emotions, That will become the pattern that
[11:25] Speaker 1: they internalize. They sort of go, oh, well, this is
[11:28] Speaker 1: what conversation looks like. This is how people respond when
[11:30] Speaker 1: I'm upset and you can't undo that later as an
[11:33] Speaker 1: adult as a parent by saying, oh, well, actually, that's
[11:35] Speaker 1: not how relationships work. I think the neuropathway is already
[11:39] Speaker 1: being formed. Now. We don't have long term research to
[11:41] Speaker 1: support what I'm saying, but I think that it's a
[11:43] Speaker 1: reasonable hypothesis. I just I think it's a massive, unregulated
[11:48] Speaker 1: experiment on young brains, and who knows how that's going
[11:51] Speaker 1: to roll out by the time they're ten or twenty
[11:54] Speaker 1: or or thirty. I just think it's terrible.
[11:56] Speaker 2: So what advice are we giving to parents today?
[11:59] Speaker 1: This is all about profit not child development. Like the
[12:02] Speaker 1: companies that are building these AI toys are not doing
[12:05] Speaker 1: it because they want your child to develop their language better.
[12:08] Speaker 1: They're building it because there's money in data, there's money
[12:11] Speaker 1: in subscriptions, there's money in creating lifelong customers. The marketing
[12:17] Speaker 1: says it's educational. There's no evidence at all that it is.
[12:21] Speaker 1: So parents should not buy them. That is my advice.
[12:23] Speaker 1: That is the best parenting advice that I've got for today.
[12:25] Speaker 1: We say that this is the podcast where you get
[12:28] Speaker 1: real parenting solutions every day, and the solution is stay
[12:31] Speaker 1: away from Gabo and every other AI toy or character
[12:34] Speaker 1: AI for older kids. Your children do not need them.
[12:38] Speaker 1: Humans are going to trump AI always in every way.
[12:43] Speaker 2: Certainly, we've just made your life easier because there's no
[12:46] Speaker 2: supervision needed, there's no managing needed, there's no boundaries you
[12:49] Speaker 2: need to set. You don't even have to bring them home.
[12:52] Speaker 1: Yeah, just keep your AI. Keep AI away from toddlers,
[12:55] Speaker 1: keep it away from kids. Don't wait for research to
[12:58] Speaker 1: confirm from the University of uh what common sense already
[13:01] Speaker 1: tells you. It's I think it's a bit of a
[13:03] Speaker 1: no brain, but I wanted to share it because the
[13:05] Speaker 1: evidence is starting to be collected and it matters. Thanks
[13:10] Speaker 1: so much for listening today. The Happy Families Podcasts Doctor's
[13:13] Speaker 1: Desk episode is produced by Justin Ruland from Bridge Media.
[13:16] Speaker 1: Mimhaving provides our research, admin and additional support. If you'd
[13:19] Speaker 1: like more info to make you family happier, please visit
[13:21] Speaker 1: Happy Families dot com dot you, and if you haven't already,
[13:24] Speaker 1: please pre order Boys Building Strong Young Men from the
[13:27] Speaker 1: inside Out. You can get twenty seven percent off if
[13:29] Speaker 1: you pre order now from Booktopia dot com dot you.
[13:32] Speaker 1: That's a good discount. I can't sell it to you
[13:34] Speaker 1: that cheap. I'd love for you to buy it from me,
[13:36] Speaker 1: but go to booktopia dot com dot you get twenty
[13:38] Speaker 1: seven percent off. Boys Building Strong Young Men from the
[13:41] Speaker 1: Inside out pre order out

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