From AI-powered bunnies to ‘live’ figures, start-up reinvents smart toys with ChatGPT-like tech and China-designed chips
- FoloToy is partnering with toymakers to upgrade traditional playthings with generative AI, creating interactive companions that can chat
- Amid US export restrictions on AI chips, open-sourced LLMs from the US have helped Chinese start-ups come up with new uses for the technology
Two Chinese entrepreneurs are experimenting with generative artificial intelligence (AI) to transform traditional companion toys into smart robots designed to hold natural conversations with children, riding on a growing trend of technology-infused toys.
Founded by Larry Wang and Guo Xinghua last August, Shanghai-based start-up FoloToy has partnered with over a dozen toymakers to use large language models (LLMs) – the technology that underpins intelligent bots such as ChatGPT – to upgrade toy designs and sell new products to consumers in China and overseas.
Their efforts are part of broader AI rush in China, spurred by the arrival of US start-up OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 that opened the eyes of the world to the potential of generative AI, Wang said in a recent interview with the South China Morning Post.
One of FoloToy’s most popular children’s products is Alilo Honey Bunny, based on an older educational toy bunny that was preloaded with recordings of bedtime stories.
Adapted with an in-house-designed AI chipset, Alilo is designed to have human-like, interactive conversations with users, differentiating it from many existing conversational toys that can only answer to certain commands.