When Google releasedGemini3 late at night, stirring up globalAI competition, the ChineseAI toy sector was quietly rising—recent data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that by2025, the domesticAI toy market is expected to reach29 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of17.9% compared to24.6 billion yuan in2024. This segment, once regarded as a “variant of smart speakers,” has now become not only the fastest-growing track in the toy industry but has also broken age boundaries, transforming from a children-exclusive product into an “emotional companion necessity” for all ages.
1. Disrupting Perceptions:AI toys are no longer just “stuffed animals + speakers”
Many people still perceiveAI toys as “talking dolls,” but leading companies have long surpassed this understanding. The world’s top-sellingAI toy brand has innovated with two products that provide different answers:
l BubblePal series has sold nearly300,000 units in its first year, generating over100 million yuan in sales. Its core highlight is the ability to generate real-time conversations based on large models, with multi-track mixing technology allowing stories to flow smoothly even after interruptions;
l The newCocoMate series collaborates with the UltramanIP, fully embedding the worldview of classic characters into the model, allowing children to experience “real-time interaction with their idols.”
The core breakthrough of these products lies in “integrated hardware and software + emotional resonance.” Unlike pureAPP companionship products that can easily be replaced by large models, the physical attributes ofAI toys provide an irreplaceable tactile experience, while software algorithm optimizations make interactions warmer—capable of empathy, memory, understanding roles, and even selective forgetting, closely resembling real friendships. As Li Yong, CEO of the innovative company, stated: “Most goodAI toys are ‘useless’; tool attributes diminish emotional value, and our core is to respond to curiosity and emotional needs.”
2. All-Age Coverage: A Scene Revolution from Children’s Enlightenment to Silver-Haired Companionship
The explosion ofAI toys essentially captures the emotional needs of different age groups, achieving a leap from “children’s toys” to “intelligent partners for all ages”:
l Children: Addressing parents’ pain points of “not knowing how to answer or not having time to answer,” usingIP images to simplify complex knowledge, such as explaining Newton’s laws from Peppa Pig’s perspective, stimulating exploration through role-playing;
l Young Adults: Introducing portable bag hangers, desktop ornaments, etc., binding with two-dimensional and filmIP, satisfying emotional attachment needs, and even becoming a “sounding board” for confiding;
l Senior Citizens: Integrating medication reminders, old song playback, storytelling functions, alleviating memory decline, and providing lightweight companionship.
This extension of scenarios allows the market space to continue expanding. Data shows that the current global annual sales ofAI toys are less than1 million units, while annual mobile phone sales reach several hundred million units. As edge-sideAI technology matures, products that do not require internet connectivity and are more cost-effective will emerge, further releasing market potential.
3. Industry Competition:IP + technology as the core barrier
The popularity ofAI toys has attracted toy companies to transform and technology companies to cross over, forming a diverse competitive landscape:
l Traditional Toy Companies: Aofei Entertainment relies on its ownIP such as Pleasant Goat and Super Wings to establish anAI division focused on educational toys; Shifeng Culture collaborates with Baidu Smart Cloud to achieve mass production ofAI toys;
l Technology Companies Crossing Over: Innovative leaps have taken the lead with large models, using the “AI + IP” model to seize the top spot in global sales while also developing self-researchedIP and licensedIP in dual paths;
l Industry Chain Collaboration: The hardware manufacturing capabilities of Dongguan and Shenzhen deeply integrate with the AI algorithm capabilities of Hangzhou and Shenzhen, forming an invisible industrial chain of chips, sensors, and contentIP.
The core barrier to competition is no longer hardware parameters but ratherIP resources and user data. Properly authorized top-tierIP (such as Ultraman and Peppa Pig) make counterfeit products difficult to replicate, while the long-term accumulation of user memories and emotional connections from ongoing interactions creates an irreplaceable long-term advantage—just as childhood conversation data accumulates, users find it hard to easily switch products.
4. Policy Support:Opportunities and Regulations in a 29 Billion Market
The rapid development ofAI toys is inseparable from the dual guarantees of policy support and industry regulations. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has not only clarified plans to guideAI technology to empower the toy industry but has also included data security and network security regulatory frameworks in the new version of the “GB 6675 Toy Safety” national standard, setting a “12+12” dual transition period to ensure the stable upgrade of the industry.
Under the policy dividend, the industry is entering a golden period of “simultaneous increase in quantity and price”: on the supply side, standard upgrades are eliminating small and medium-sized manufacturers, releasing30% of market share; on the demand side, the three-child policy, silver-haired economy, and emotional consumption upgrades are forming a synergy; on the technology side, the cost of large models has decreased by70%, making terminal prices more affordable and further activating consumption potential.
Conclusion:The Future of AI Toys is “Technology with Warmth”
From the world’s top-sellingBubblePal to a market scale of29 billion yuan, the rise ofAI toys proves that the ultimate value of technology is to serve humanity. When technology no longer pursues “greater power” but shifts to “better understanding you,” and when products no longer obsess over “usefulness” but focus on “emotional value,” a brand new consumer track is born.
In the future, with continuous breakthroughs in edge-sideAI and multimodal interaction technologies,AI toys may possess more natural expressions, more flexible movements, and even become emotional carriers connecting the virtual and real worlds. This technological revolution about “companionship” has only just begun.