Mattel ditches Aristotle ‘Amazon Echo for kids’ over fears it could SPY on innocent children
MATTEL has shelved plans to release an artificially intelligent baby monitor after parents raised serious privacy concerns about the device.
The Aristotle was dubbed the "Amazon Echo for kids" but gave parents the jitters because some were worried it would store recordings of their kids.
The toy company, which is most famous for Barbie, announced the gadget in January and said it would sing lullabies and tell bedtime stories.
It would allow parents to monitor tots from their phones using a secure connection, even letting them play games with children from afar.
But to become "smarter" Aristotle had to record everything it saw and heard – including questions from children – so it could learn from experience.
Campaigners claimed this was a clear privacy breach and meant youngsters would grow up under surveillance.
Others said artificial intelligence should not be used in place of real parenting.
It sparked outrage after an appearance on an American TV show where presenters warned that the cameras would watch tots grow into teens.
At the time, Mattel said: "Keeping families safe and their data private is of utmost importance to Mattel and we have invested much of our time and research into this aspect of Aristotle.
"It was developed by Mattel’s new Nabi unit, the leader in technology for kids and families and the company that pioneered online protection for kids initially through its award-winning tablet line."
But it has since quietly discontinued the device, saying it is no longer "part of its strategy", the .
Rival Amazon Echo is in the middle of a court case that could finally reveal whether the tech giant is spying on millions from their homes.
The tech giant has been asked to hand over recordings an Echo made inside the home of James Andrew Bates, who is accused of strangling a man to death in a hot tub.
Cops hope the Echo will have stored vital information which will allow them to build a case against Bates.
Amazon initially refused to hand over the data.
AMAZ-ING 10 things you should get your Amazon Echo to do when you first bring it home
Similar to Mattel's Aristotle, the Echo is a voice-activated gadget which records owners' spoken commands and then sends them back to a central server to be interpreted.
It requires a constant internet connection, because the process of sending voice recordings back to base is what allows it to understand and obey people's commands.
A video emerged recently of Amazon Echo spouting crude porno passages when a tot asked it a question.
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