Determine children’s firsthand experiences with AI toys

Determine how children experience AI toys that incorporate large language models for open-ended spoken dialogue, memory across interactions, and personalized responses in practice from the child’s firsthand perspective during play and daily use.

Background

The paper notes that most existing work and public discourse about AI toys emphasize adult perspectives, policy concerns, or technical safety risks, with comparatively little empirical study of children’s own interactions. AI toys built on LLMs introduce open-ended dialogue, personalization, and persistence, potentially reshaping play and social expectations.

Given this gap, the authors foreground the need to directly investigate children’s firsthand experiences with these toys in real interactions, motivating their participatory design study with Curio’s conversational AI toys (Grok, Grem, and Gabbo).

References

Much of the emerging research has focused on adult perspectives, policy implications, or technical safety risks, leaving open questions about how children experience these systems in practice first hand.

— Toys that listen, talk, and play: Understanding Children's Sensemaking and Interactions with AI Toys  (2604.02629 - Dangol et al., 3 Apr 2026) in Section 1 (Introduction)