| Story of Stuff

In October 2017, we delivered the following petition to Mattel CEO Margaret Georgiadis; just two days later, Mattel announced that they had cancelled their plans to release Aristotle.

Dear Ms. Georgiadis,

We ask you not to release Aristotle, the Amazon Echo-type device for babies and young children. Young children shouldn’t be encouraged to form bonds and friendships with data-collecting devices, nor should they be targeted by advertisements based on those interactions.

Aristotle attempts to replace the judgment and nurturing of loving caregivers with faux companionship of a robot designed to sell products and build brand loyalty. Mattel’s own chief products officer, Robb Fujioka, has admitted that the product's impact on childhood development is not known.

Young children should not be subject to targeted advertising, and they absolutely should not be guinea pigs in AI experiments. Please put the privacy and well-being of children first and cancel the production of Aristotle.

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UPDATE: We did it! Following pressure from The Story of Stuff Community, Mattel has cancelled plans to release Aristotle. Together, we stood up to a billion-dollar company and successfully stopped them from trading children's privacy for profit. Thank you for helping us achieve this victory! [read more via Washington Post]

The loving guidance of a parent or caretaker has new competition from Aristotle, a "digital nanny" by toy-maker Mattel. The internet-connected device, which includes a microphone and camera, is designed to live in a child’s bedroom from birth and be a constant companion as she grows up. Mattel boasts Aristotle can “soothe” crying baby, help toddlers learn to speak, and facilitate learning in older children.

What is the impact on a child's development when you replace a caregiver with a robot? Mattel’s own chief products officer, Robb Fujioka, had this to say: "Honestly speaking, we just don’t know. If we’re successful, kids will form some emotional ties to this. Hopefully, it will be the right types of emotional ties.” That's a gamble we'd rather not take!

But there’s something else Aristotle will do…

Aristotle can collect and store data about a child’s activity and interactions with it, from their interests to their sleep patters. That data could be shared with those partner corporations, and used to target young children and their parents with marketing.

Kid’s bedrooms should be for growth and play, not corporate marketing and childcare experiments. Please tell Mattel CEO Margaret Georgiadis: Put the well-being and privacy of children ahead of corporate profits. Don’t sell Aristotle.