Should Barbie chat with children?

ChatGPT and similar tools, called LLMs (Large Language Models), are being used with greater frequency in our daily lives. Google, for instance, has integrated its GEMINI tool with its search engine. Sometimes, when the program behind the search engine deems it appropriate, the question asked is sent to GEMINI, and the response of the LLM appears first, albeit with this warning at the end, in small print:

AI responses may include mistakes.

Of course, they may include mistakes! These responses are not generated by understanding the question, but by using information previously obtained from the Internet, and applying an algorithm based on extracting words that typically appear in that information after the previously generated words. See a post in this blog where I explained that algorithm. Since the information extracted from the Internet can be true or false, and the algorithm can introduce new falsehoods where none existed, the answers obtained may be correct, partially correct, or completely wrong, therefore Google's warning is valid.

Despite all the warnings we experts try to issue, some people are fooled by these programs and blindly believe everything they are told. Perhaps the media is partly to blame, as this field of research is often presented with great hype. Things have gotten to the point that OpenAI (the company that launched ChatGPT) has even hired psychiatrists to study how its LLM tools affect its users emotionally. Recently, we’ve heard the news that ChatGPT helped a young boy commit suicide, and his parents have sued OpenAI.

In June and July of this year (2025), the news broke in the media that OpenAI and Mattel (the company that created Barbie) have established a partnership to build a Barbie model that connects to OpenAI's LLM tools, which would turn it into the first toy equipped with artificial intelligence, at the level currently achieved by this technology. This doll could do the following:

·         Converse with the child. Nothing could be simpler: whatever the child says is converted into text. That text is sent to ChatGPT or another equivalent tool, the response is obtained, and this written text is transformed into spoken text, with the corresponding pre-recorded voice. Technology is perfectly equipped to perform all these operations.

·         Save information about previous conversations. All one needs to do is provide the doll with an electronic memory, which can store hundreds of gigabytes, and a program that uses that memory to modify subsequent conversations. This is also within the reach of our technology.

Barbie would thus be able to listen, respond, remember, and adapt.

What consequences could this have for our children?

In an article published in IEEE Spectrum, Marc Fernandez analyzes the situation that would be created and what could be the advantages and disadvantages:

·         Supporters claim that children will learn to create stories, their learning skills will improve, and those who have trouble establishing social relationships will find companionship in their toy. Mattel promises that the toy's interaction with the child will be safe and age-appropriate.

·         Opponents argue that the relationship of the children with the toys can be negative and prevent them from having real human relationships. And here I quote Marc Fernandez: For many parents, the fear is that an AI toy might say something inappropriate. But the more subtle, and perhaps more serious, risk is that it might say exactly the right thing, delivered with a tone of calm empathy and polished politeness, yet with no real understanding behind it. Children, especially in early developmental stages, are acutely sensitive to tone, timing, and emotional mirroring. Children playing with [these] toys will believe they’re being understood, when in fact, the system is only predicting plausible next words.

The end of Marc Fernandez's article is truly devastating:

We’re at a point with AI where LLMs are affecting adults in profound and unexpected ways, sometimes triggering mental health crises or reinforcing false beliefs or dangerous ideas… This is uncharted technology, and we adults are still learning how to navigate it. Should we really be exposing children to it?

The same post in Spanish

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Manuel Alfonseca