Thanks to AI, Barbie is about to become our child’s best friend

I for one am worried. Trigger warning: Eating disorders are discussed in this article 

As a little girl, I wanted to be Barbie.

Barbie epitomised what I thought it meant to be an empowered woman.

She could be a doctor, a sports star, ballerina. Anything and everything. Despite the fact that structurally Barbie couldn’t stand on her size 3 feet.

But it never made me doubt for a second that she had an enormous brain, which her elongated neck was incapable of supporting.

She was all I wanted to be, and I got close.

All it took was a fanatical addiction to fitness, fakery, and an eating disorder that almost killed me twice in my teens. 

Madeleine in her own Barbie-esque days. Image: Supplied

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I suffered from living most of my life in the shadow cast by childhood abuse, I almost made the fantasy a reality. But I knew, deep down, that she wasn’t real.

Barbie is the projection of millions of little girls’ future aspirations. But what if that doll suddenly talks back? What if what was once an inanimate lump of plastic suddenly demonstrated sentience? 

The line between fantasy and reality doesn’t just blur. It’s obliterated. 

Mattel’s recently announced, that it’s partnering with OpenAI, to embed generative AI into iconic children’s brands, such as Barbie, Hot Wheels and Thomas & Friends.

For many kids, Barbie will ostensibly be comparable to human.  Along with her suite of professions and a physique that for a flesh-and-blood child requires deadly brutality to achieve. 

But the issue is so much bigger than a precursor to body dysmorphia.

It signals that AI is already moving from screen to cradle. 

Mattel has packaged their plans with the dazzling promise of bringing the ‘magic of AI’ to playtime. Toys that speak, respond, entertain.

But what does that mean for the magic of childhood?

In forging sturdy relationships with teddies, trucks, and dolls, kids have always flexed their imaginations.

But once AI does all the heavy lifting, and toys talk back of their own accord, is there any need for imagination at all?

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Anyone out there tinkering with AI for entertainment, education or in the workplace will be familiar with the odd tangents that conversations can take.

As adults we’ve the faculty to dismiss such glitches or be more specific in our prompts. But for a child, what happens if Barbie goes rogue? 

Ringo Starr exclaims ‘bust my buffers’ for Thomas the Tank Engine, delivered in the delightful tongue-in-cheek drollness English humour is famous for. But it’s not hard to imagine gated AI ramping up the sexual overtones, however innocently, or Thomas’s now infamous accusation of Henry ‘You’re too fat, you need exercise’ prompting some very problematic conversations. Cinders and ashes indeed.

As frightening as some future projections might be, this is no time to put our heads in the sand. AI is here and it’s here to stay.

So, what are we looking at here? 

First, we must understand that AI is designed to gather data.  It doesn’t just play, it teaches while simultaneously learning your child.

No doubt Mattel knows what it’s doing, this is not their first rodeo. And no doubt many in the lucrative kids’ market are watching on avidly waiting to see how this all pans out. 

Before parents are swept away by the kind of hype only millions of marketing dollars can generate, I hope we all pause long enough to ask ourselves: Is this safe?

For me, the fact this initiative will see AI shaping and encouraging meaningful relationships between our kids and retail products without any clear, comprehensive guardrails is a red flag.

This is not a conversation between a child and a parent or teacher, accommodating the needs and developmental stage unique to that child, this is a conversation between a child and an instrument, the fundamental purpose of which is to gather data and sell more units.

This isn’t parental fear-mongering. This is the reality. Image: Getty

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There’s no shame in demanding answers.

As a parent who is only too familiar with the slippery slope of suggestion, especially when offered with the omniscience too many of us credit to AI, I have some questions that need answers: who designs these systems? Who sets their boundaries?  Who stands guard over a child’s mind when silicon systems shape what they learn, who they become? 

This isn’t parental fear-mongering. This is the reality: we are right now ushering in a generation whose childhoods are intertwined with gated AI personalities. 

Mattel and others of its ilk owe parents genuine, informed consent. It owes children respect for their inner lives. 

I’m no technology denialist. Like most, I’ve adopted AI into my workplace and I’ve got a respect for its healthy use.

But can parents control AI? Seeing it integrated into the playtime of toddlers feels to me like handing my little one scissors and leaving the room.

So before I buy in, I just want solid assurance that the first AI Barbie or talking train is not also the first surveillance instrument of my kids’ lives.

There’s no shame in demanding answers.

Lest that instrument of impossible perfection becomes an instrument of destruction by whispering into vulnerable, impressionable ears: ‘You can be just like me’.

Madeleine West is a child safety and victims advocate, mum of seven and actor. From 1st July she takes on a new role as an advisor to the Ctrl+Shft online safety coalition to support schools, workplaces and families in navigating digital risk. www.ctrlshft.global

Originally published as Thanks to AI, Barbie is about to become our child’s best friend