FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2025
Contact:
Melodi Dinçer
Policy Counsel
melodi@techjusticelaw.org
Below is a statement on Mattel and Open AI’s announcement that the brands would be collaborating to reimagine new forms of play. The statement may be attributed to Tech Justice Law Project Policy Counsel Melodi Dinçer.
Gone may be the days of a room of marketing executives arguing over which carefully crafted set of responses their latest pull-string doll will include. With Mattel recently announcing their collaboration with OpenAI to develop AI-powered products, consumers may soon be able to hear more than just a few iconic catchphrases from their favorite toys.
The toy giant, which houses iconic brands such as Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fisher-Price, noted in their statement that they expect the collaboration’s first product to be announced later this year. Josh Silverman, Mattel’s Chief Franchise Officer noted that the collaboration with OpenAI will enable the brand to “reimagine new forms of play.”
A source familiar with the collaboration has stated that the first product will not be designed for kids under 13, likely to avoid being subject to laws that regulate products pushed towards young children and set collection and processing limits on their personal data. Such data practices are a key part of interacting with generative AI products, which crunch through vast amounts of user data in order to “personalize” experiences. Despite this claim, a majority of Mattel’s products are marketed to younger children, and their website currently lumps together all toys recommended for ages over five without distinguishing children between the ages of 5 and 13.
Well-documented issues are emerging when vulnerable people–including children–are exposed to genAI products. Instead of protecting impressionable minds from products that can harm them, this partnership could expose developing humans to even more outlandish and traumatizing contexts. Worse, melding beloved toys like Barbie and the Magic 8 Ball with unpredictable LLM outputs further normalizes the emerging tech as something society needs as opposed to a strategic business decision by genAI companies to try to make their businesses profitable, sacrificing the dignity of human labor and relationships to an insatiable, VC-driven growth imperative.
“Children do not need AI Barbies. Letting genAI companies hijack beloved children’s brands and expose a generation of children to hallucinations, delusions, and slop sounds like something straight out of a Black Mirror episode,” states TJLP Policy Counsel Melodi Dinçer. “It is unclear what “safe” and “responsible” mean when it comes to these technologies, especially when their creators unleash them without any public accountability and cannot explain how their products even work. Mattel’s collaboration with OpenAI suggests these companies care more about making a profit than preserving children’s health and imagination.”