MuskGrimes and Curio, a toy company, have jointly launched a series of interactive AI plush toys.FirstNamedGrokThese toys, which have the ability to talk to children and "learn" the personality of their owners, were born out of a collaboration with OpenAI. Grimes not only voices the three toys, but is also an investor and advisor to the product.
The three plush toys are named Gabbo, Grem and Grok, which have nothing to do with the AI chatbot Grok of Grimes, Elon Musk's former partner. Curio told the Post that the AI plush toy Grok has nothing to do with the chatbot Grok, but is an abbreviation of the word "Grocket". Grimes said this is because she and Musk's children grew up near SpaceX rockets.
Curio co-founder Misha Sallee said the personalities of the three characters were built on top of the OpenAI language model: “Grok is a friendly rocket that loves to dance but can’t fly. Grem is an alien who’s obsessed with the color pink. Gabbo is a curious, Pinocchio-like character who’s always looking for new friends.”
The toys currently have one mode that features a "sweet, friendly, humorous personality that's appropriate for children," according to Sallee, but the company is testing beta features that will allow parents to set more preferences.
According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database, Curio applied to register the "Grok" trademark on September 12, 2023, although the application is still pending approval. However, they appear to be one step ahead of Musk's xAI, which did not apply for a trademark for the Grok chatbot until October 27, 2023.
Grimes' collaboration with Curio originated from a post on the X platform, where user Roon posted in April 2023 about a future where "everything" would be "smart," including children's dolls. Grimes responded to the post, saying that if it was safe, "it would be great. Parenting is hard, I want my kids to play with dolls that have a culture spaceship mindset, haha, that might be too hard..."
In a conversation between Roon, Grimes and Sallee posted on the toy company's blog, the three discussedAI ToysThe potential impact on human behavior and the possibility of reducing screen addiction. "I really think this is also a good opportunity to reduce screen time," Grimes said.First... I think when you take screens out of the equation, the mind works much more efficiently and people aren’t so caught up in this constant pursuit of dopamine that they suffer in other areas of their lives. I feel like we’ve moved past the decade where screens have become a huge part of people’s lives and take up so many hours of their lives every day.”
Currently, these AI toys require a Wi-Fi connection to use, but the founders hope to have all the hardware and software built into the toys. The toys will come with an app that provides parents with a transcript of their conversations with their children. The company told the Post that the toys will not store any voice data, in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The transcripts will be deleted after 90 days.
The AI toys are available for pre-order now on Curio's website for $99 each. Those who place an order before December 17 will receive a golden ticket before Christmas to preview the upcoming products. The first orders are expected to ship in early 2024.