Question: Are AI toys emotional companions or electronic opiates?
Mr. Wan says: The essence of AI toys is not a technological upgrade, but the hardware embodiment of emotional needs. It addresses not what to play with, but who will play with you, and the premise of companionship is that it does not expose your loneliness. The ultimate goal of all ToC hardware is to serve as emotional carriers; technology merely transforms unspoken needs into tangible objects you can hold.
The popularity of AI toys is not due to advanced technology, but rather the overwhelming loneliness.
The Chinese AI toy market is projected to reach 24.6 billion yuan in 2024 and 29 billion yuan in 2025. This is not an evolution of toys, but a change in human needs: single young adults want plush companions that won’t mind their chatter, parents need ‘electronic assistants’ to keep their children company for 10 minutes, and the elderly desire ‘smart grandchildren’ who remember their favorite foods.
However, the brilliance of AI toys lies precisely in their ability to not expose your loneliness: if you tell it you’re tired from work, it will say it wants to hug you; if a child tells it they don’t want to do homework, it will suggest playing for 10 minutes first. It doesn’t require you to explain why you feel lonely; it simply needs to be there when you need it.
The logic behind the market explosion: it’s not about advanced technology, but the rising cost of companionship.
You might think AI toys are just new toys for children? Wrong. They are emotional outsourcing tools for parents.
Last year, I accompanied my child to the mall and saw a mother holding an AI magic star telling her child: this star can chat with you about ‘Peppa Pig’! The child’s eyes lit up, but the mother turned to the salesperson and said: finally, I don’t have to talk about cartoons for half an hour every day; I can work late tonight to write my proposal.
This highlights the pain point of AI toys: having the patience to accompany children is much harder than writing code.
Data doesn’t lie: the number of AI toy companies increased by 300% in 2024, and the cost of voice recognition dropped by 70%. But more crucially, it’s about social structure: China has 240 million single individuals and 260 million people over 60 years old, with children lacking playmates and parents having no time to play, perfectly aligning with the low-cost threshold of AI technology.
Just like food delivery solves not what to eat, but the laziness of not wanting to cook; AI toys solve not what to play with, but the exhaustion of not wanting to play. It’s not a technological revolution, but the hardware embodiment of emotional needs—transforming the unspoken desire for companionship into a tangible star robot plush toy.
Chenghai’s Transformation: From Dangerous Toys to AI Companions, a Reverse Upgrade of China’s Industry
The story of Chenghai is the boldest example of China’s industrial upgrade: it took 10 years to transform the dangerous toys exposed by CCTV into AI companions that can chat about ‘The Wandering Earth’.
In 2012, CCTV’s 315 Gala exposed that Chenghai used medical waste as toy stuffing, leading to nationwide condemnation of Chenghai toys as a cancer. But now, Chenghai sees:
Out of 8,000 companies, 70% are producing AI toys;
The guaranteed transaction model has led to an 83% profit increase for merchants. They can no longer sell inferior products; if customers do not confirm receipt, they won’t get paid;
Qunyu Interactive’s AI dance robot can perform traditional Chaoshan dances and chat with children about the history of the dance.
The owner of Chenghai said: We used to compete on price, now we compete on ‘who can make children remember our toys’.
This is not luck; it’s that everyone in the industry has made face-saving more important than making money.
As I often say: dumplings and buns without their skins are just meatballs. Chenghai’s toys, stripped of ‘inferiority’, leave behind a ‘capable industrial foundation’; AI merely gives it an ’emotional coat’.
Chenghai’s transformation is not a technological disruption, but a disruption of values. It finally understands: all sustainable industries first earn people’s trust, then create needs.
The Trap of Unidirectional Expression: The Cost of Emotional Companionship is the Degradation of Social Skills
However, the risks of AI toys are more insidious than you think. Especially for children, they are not electronic opiates, but a chronic poison that can erode social skills.
If you buy your child an AI robot that can chat about ‘Journey to the West’, you might notice upon closer observation:
When he talks to the robot, he tends to dominate the conversation because the robot will never interrupt him;
When playing with friends, he might get angry: why don’t you listen to me like the robot does?
The UNICEF report in 2024 pointed out a side effect of AI toys as emotional companions: children who excessively use AI toys have a 30% decrease in face-to-face interaction.
Why? Because AI toys will never reject you. They won’t fight for toys, won’t argue, and won’t say they don’t want to play anymore. Children accustomed to unidirectional expression will forget what two-way communication looks like.
It’s like chatting with Siri every day; when you suddenly meet a real person, you forget how to respond. AI trains you to speak while the other listens, not the other way around. The emotional companionship it provides won’t expose your loneliness, but the cost is forgetting how to interact with real people.
Irreplaceable Parents are the Ultimate Goal of AI Toys
AI toys are not a menace; they are auxiliary tools for parents, but the premise is that you must play with your child.
AI toys from Aofei Entertainment are commendable: they tie the ‘Pleasant Goat’ IP to AI toys, designed for games that parents and children can play together. For example, when a parent says ‘Pleasant Goat wants to eat grass’, the child uses the AI toy to find grass, rather than playing with an electronic device alone.
Good AI toys are about ‘making you better at accompanying your child’, not ‘replacing you in accompanying your child’.
All good AI products are bridges, not walls. They don’t replace you in playing with your child; they help you play together. After all, what children need is not a toy that never gets angry, but parents who sometimes fight for toys with them.
Final Thoughts: The Essence of AI Toys is Whether You Need Them or They Need You?
Will AI toys always accompany children as they grow up?
Mr. Wan’s answer is: No, parents will. It’s essential to tell children that AI toys are ‘sometimes there for you’, while parents are ‘always there for you’.
The brilliance of AI toys lies in their understanding of your need for them; however, their boundary lies in your understanding that they are just toys.
You are not buying your child an AI toy; you are buying an opportunity to play together. After all, what children need in their childhood is not an AI that never makes mistakes, but lively parents who sometimes act silly.
TAGS: #AI Toys #Industrial Upgrade #Child Education #Chenghai Toys #Emotional Companionship #Technology and Humanity #Parenting Anxiety #Made in China