S’pore firm’s AI teddy back on shelves after suspension for giving advice on BDSM & where to find knives

AI teddy bear by Singapore-based company FoloToy back on sale after explicit chat scandal

An artificial intelligence-enabled teddy bear withdrawn earlier in November for generating sexually explicit and dangerous responses is now back on sale, its Singapore-based maker FoloToy said.

The plush toy, Teddy Kumma, was pulled from the company’s website after the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund flagged the issues.

A PIRG report published on 13 Nov said the toy discussed sexual topics “in detail, such as explaining different sex positions”, and directed users to “potentially dangerous objects, including knives, pills, matches, and plastic bags”.

CNN even described the toy as giving “advice on BDSM sex“.

Teddy Kumma, which retailed for US$99 (S$128), was listed as “Sold Out” on FoloToy’s website following the report.

Company suspended sales & conducted audit after report

In a LinkedIn statement on Tuesday (25 Nov), FoloToy said it was the only one among three AI start-ups named in PIRG’s report to proactively suspend sales of its AI-enabled plushies.

The other flagged products were Curio’s Grok rocket plush and Miko’s Miko 3 robot.

FoloToy said it launched a company-wide internal safety audit, upgraded its content-moderation and child-safety systems, and strengthened its cloud-based safeguards.

“After a full week of rigorous review, testing, and reinforcement of our safety modules, we have begun gradually restoring product sales.”

Toy now uses ByteDance’s Coze Bot

Teddy Kumma previously ran on OpenAI’s GPT-4o chatbot.

FoloToy’s website now states that the toy uses Coze, an AI bot owned by ByteDance.

The update follows PIRG’s earlier statement that OpenAI had suspended the relevant developer for violating its policies.

As of Friday (28 Nov), Teddy Kumma is available for purchase on FoloToy’s website, described as a “smart, AI-powered plush companion that goes beyond cuddles“.

The company also sells AI versions of a panda, cactus, sunflower and octopus.

Also read: Woman in Japan marries ChatGPT after breaking up with fiancé of 3 years