These chat toy features represent an important new front in the struggle for AI supremacy. I have written about the dystopian new reality of AI and warfare. The same technology that is creating killing machines in Ukraine and mass surveillance in Gaza can also be used to keep your children from feeling lonely.

This war to win the trust of children and adolescents is key to victory in the AI corporate race. Silicon Valley programmers are focusing on product lines that will pass the trust test - cute AI, bestie AI, therapist AI.

The toys are not the experiment. Our children are.