In a letter released Monday, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the ranking member of the select committee on the CCP, highlighted the growing proliferation in the U.S. of AI-equipped interactive toys manufactured by Chinese companies. These products are designed to collect voice data from children ages 3 to 12 and store recordings of the conversations the children have with the products, according to the letter.
Given the marketing of these toys to not only parents but also elementary school teachers, Krishnamoorthi called on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "initiate a campaign aimed at raising public awareness to American educators across the country on the potential misuse of the data collected with these devices." He added that because of their location, the manufacturers may be subject to the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China and accompanying requirements to hand over data they gather to Chinese government authorities upon demand.
"This raises profound concerns, especially in U.S. educational settings," he wrote.
Krishnamoorthi also pressed the Education Department to work with other governmental agencies "to ensure comprehensive oversight of these PRC AI toys."
While he raised concerns about the industry as a whole, his letter singled out Bubble Pal, a device that can attach like a necklace to toys to provide personalized interactions between the product and its user.
The product, manufactured by Shenzhen-based Haivivi Technology, runs on Chinese startup DeepSeek's large language model, which allows children to create distinctive interactive stories while playing with the toy, Krishnamoorthi added.
"Given the targeting of our schools by PRC-based AI toy companies, I believe it is time to act now, when the problem is still at an emerging stage, to raise awareness among American families," he wrote, saying AI and smart toys are projected to be a $25 billion industry by 2030. "Accordingly, I urge you to issue clear guidance to school districts, educators, and parents on the risks of these Chinese-manufactured AI toys that are gaining traction on the U.S. market."
A representative for the Department of Education couldn't be reached for comment Monday.
Krishnamoorthi earlier this month also teamed up with U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to urge the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Atlanta-based surveillance technology company Flock Safety over its cybersecurity measures, saying the company has exposed Americans' personal data to thieves and foreign spies.
The lawmakers said that Flock's safety technology platform doesn't require law enforcement customers to use multifactor authentication, and that intruders can easily circumvent the MFA methods the company does use, which has enabled thieves to steal the passwords for at least 35 Flock customer accounts, the lawmakers said, citing the cybersecurity company Hudson Rock.
These latest moves come after the Federal Trade Commission took action earlier this year against a Chinese robot toy maker, claiming it enabled a Chinese analytics provider to collect location information from mobile app users under 13 without parental consent.
According to the commission, Apitor Technology Co. Ltd. violated the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by failing to notify parents and obtain their consent before "surreptitiously" collecting location data from children on Android devices and making it possible for another company to gather it, contrary to Apitor's promising in its privacy policies that it complied with the agency's COPPA rule.
To resolve these claims, the company agreed to implement several data security and privacy enhancements, including ensuring that any third-party software provider it uses adheres to the COPPA rule and deleting any personal information it has unlawfully collected unless it notifies parents and obtains their consent. The deal, which the FTC announced in September, also included a $500,000 penalty, which was suspended because the company couldn't pay.
--Editing by Nick Siwek.
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