Author of Proposed AI Toy Moratorium Calls for Greater Transparency into AI Toy Development
SACRAMENTO – Last week, State Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego) sent a letter (attached) to the CEOs of OpenAI and toy manufacturer Mattel, Sam Altman and Ynon Kreiz, urging greater public transparency into the capacity of and safeguards around the AI-enabled products they are working to introduce to the market.
In June of last year, Mattel and OpenAI announced a strategic partnership to “bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences” via “AI-powered products and experiences based on Mattel’s brands.” OpenAI’s own policy states ChatGPT “is not meant for children under 13” and “may produce output that is not appropriate for… all ages.”
Two recent studies, one by US Public Interest Group Education Fund (PIRG) and the other by Common Sense Media, have highlighted the potential dangers AI toy can pose to children, revealing over 27% of AI toy outputs were inappropriate for kids and conversational content included how to use matches to start a fire and topics of a sexual nature.
“[W]e need greater clarity about your plans and commitments to child safety,” said Senator Padilla in the letter to Mattel and OpenAI CEOs Altman and Kreiz.
In the letter, Senator Padilla outlined a series of questions to provide greater clarity to the capacity of AI-enabled products marketed to children:
- What specific age range will your first AI-enabled products be marketed towards? Will they be designed for users under 13?
- If these products are for “families,” does this mean they will be for children and adults to use together? Please clarify.
- What kinds of AI-enabled products are you considering or planning on releasing? (For instance, dolls, card games, or apps.)
- Mr. Kreiz suggested in a recent interview that you are not planning on making an AI-enabled Barbie doll.[1] Can you confirm this?
- Will any of your AI products function as friends or companions?
- What safety testing and other precautions will you take to ensure any AI system integrated into your product does not give harmful or inappropriate outputs?
- When do you plan to release your first AI-enabled product? Will there be an opportunity for regulators to see it before it hits the market?
Earlier this year, Senator Padilla introduced Senate Bill 867, a 4-year moratorium on the sale and manufacture of toys with AI chatbots embedded in them, the first-in-the-nation, to allow safety regulations to be developed to ensure children’s safety.
Senator Padilla’s Senate Bill 243, the first-of-its-kind law in the nation signed into law last year, requires chatbot operators to implement critical, reasonable, and attainable safeguards around interactions with AI chatbots and provide families with a private right to pursue legal actions against noncompliant and negligent developers. At the time Governor Newsom signed SB 243, he urged the tech industry and child advocates to continue negotiations to strengthen and improve upon that measure.
Already this year, several measures to advance and strengthen SB 243 have been introduced including Senator Padilla’s Senate Bill 300 to:
- Bring age verification protocol in line with California’s landmark law, requiring chatbot operators to adhere to a stricter standard
- Require operators to prevent chatbots from producing or facilitating the exchange of any sexually explicit material or proposing any sexually explicit content in interactions with minors
To learn more about Senator Padilla’s continued efforts to create common sense regulations around AI chatbots, click here and here.
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Steve Padilla represents the 18th Senate District, which includes the communities of Chula Vista, the Coachella Valley, Imperial Beach, the Imperial Valley, National City, and San Diego. Prior to his election to the Senate in 2022, Senator Padilla was the first person of color ever elected to city office in Chula Vista, the first Latino Mayor, and the first openly LGBT person to serve or be elected to city office. Website of Senator Steve Padilla: https://sd18.senate.ca.gov/
[1] https://www.facebook.com/BloombergTelevision/videos/mattel-ceo-on-the-t…