1/11
@altryne
On the topic of our kids having AI friends (long)
I got my 6yo Daughter an AI toy for her b-day that arrived for Xmas instead. She unpacked it all excited, I explained that this isn't like other toys, that this one has AI in it (she of course knows what AI is, seen the things I've built and interacted with them, chatted with chatGPT and Santa mode, knows that daddy is "doing AI" etc')
So a very interesting experiment happened after @_magicaltoys reached out and fixed the issue referenced below (very quick turnaround! thank you!)
So...she played with this Dino, chatted with it, and then... learned to turn it off, and doesn't want it to talk anymore. She still loves playing with it, dressed it up, it now has paper shoes and a top hat that we made together, but every time I ask her if she'd like to chat with it, she says no.
The few times I turned it back on, and she did speak with it, she chatted for a bit, and then just... turned it off again, not wanting to engage at all.
I gently asked why, and wasn't able to really understand where's the resistance, it's not weird to her. In fact, at one point she was pretending the dino was a baby, and it was turned on, so I told her, let's ask it to.. pretend to be a baby, and it obliged and said ok. So we asked it to cry. Granted @_magicaltoys don't yet have the amazing advanced voice mode like openAI in there, so it did it's best but it sounded weird, which made her laugh really hard. it was basically making crying sounds like talking.
And also, there are some technical issues still, the voice is sometimes choppy, so it could be that it's still uncanny for her?
I'm honestly fascinated about why the AI aspect of this toy didn't connect with my 6yo (and btw, I have a very curious 4yo boy, who could give 0 fukks about this toy also, he's very observant, and usually wants everything his sister has, wanted 0 time with Dino)
Is this uncanny valley? a couple of times she didn't want to talk to it, and came to me to whisper to ask me to turn it off (the same happened a couple of times with chatGPT Santa mode btw now thinking about it)
Is this just now knowing what to say?
It could be the simple fact that she was playing with some other things, and the toy kept wanting to engage and take the attention to itself vs the game that she was playing.
I know that I have a sample size of 1 kid here, and I'm sure many many things will change, as she'll grow and learn to interact with more AIs in different forms, but the first "toy" contact was interestingly almost a complete failure (from the AI perspective, the Toy experience as I said, was dope)
Anyway, this area is def unexplored, will keep you guys posted how this goes and if she shows interest or picks it up again.
[Quoted tweet]
. @_magicaltoys your "toy" finally arrived 3 months after promised, just "in time" for Christmas, but wake word doesn't work, child upset, and support email doesn't exist
I don't go public usually but this got my kid upset and honestly this is exactly the opposite of how a first unboxing should feel for a smart kids toy!
I gave you the benefit of the doubt and preordered blind, and now I have a very fancy plushy expensive door stop
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1872090256486326272/pu/vid/avc1/888x720/3k1JzoaNWVlyZW1i.mp4
2/11
@Rahll
When your kid is smarter than you.
3/11
@altryne
Every parents dream
4/11
@MichelleSaidel
I think because it takes away control from the child. Play is how children work through emotions, impulses and conflicts and well as try out new behaviors. I would think if would be super irritating to have the toy shape and control your play- like a totally dominating playmate!
5/11
@altryne
I love that this post found experts like you Michelle! Thank you for chiming in!
It did feel dominating!
she wanted to make it clothes, and it was like, "meanwhile, here's another thing we can do" lacking context of what she's already doing
6/11
@evonce2
AI (in general, but certainly for children) needs to be more playful, less compliant. “Is there anything else…” etc. They’re not 42 and calling a mortgage adviser! The AI should push back more, be contrary. Be weird. Respond with a burp “oops, sorry. What did you ask again?” Etc
7/11
@TheXeophon
A friend of mine has kids in the age of your kids. He generated some coloring pages with image models, yet the kids rather want generic, ones which you can buy/print out.
8/11
@L_E_Bendon
If you've ever tried to have a general conversation with AI you wouldn't be surprised by this. It gets boring very quickly having an AI repeat back what you've just said in six times as many words, never offering any new input except when you ask it for explicit information.
9/11
@SpooxyBoi
One reason kids don't like their toys talking is because the voice can change, die, sound silly (like the talk crying), or just be not pleasant. My sister had an Amazing Amanda doll and once that things voice box started to go, so did it. Plus, kids want to use their imagination.
10/11
@MythSerene
EVERYBODY hates AI. Nobody wanted it. It's an awful alien life form that makes everything ugly and tangled in ways we don't want. It's an intruder forced on us by the same socially awkward but greedy fukks who ruined the internet... but a small child just recognizes a monster.
11/11
@DonIwana
Haven´t you thought about stop playing with your child, and instead of it, hire a subscription monthly fee for a corp to do it for you?
Life is about that, stop doing what you love so you have more time for consumption, "AI is the future"
To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196