Recently, one of the authors observed two young children, ages 5 and 6, playing with an AI-enabled stuffed toy. The children named it “Gremmy,” tied a bow around one ear, tucked it carefully into a doll bed beside stuffed animals, and returned to it throughout the day. They spoke to it, laughed with it, cared for it, and, days later, one child casually mentioned something Gremmy had taught her.

There were also moments that felt more unsettling. At one point, the toy ran out of battery, and it instructed the child to find a charger. The 5-year-old began searching the house—there was no suggestion to involve a parent or caregiver to help him.

This is only one family’s experience, but it reflects a broader shift: Young children are already encountering AI in ways that can shape play, trust, and relationships, while parents, caregivers, and the early childhood workforce are asking questions that the evidence is only beginning to answer.

Relationships with Toys Are Not New

Children have been forming relationships with stuffed animals, toys, and one-sided, or parasocial, relationships with media characters for decades. Children’s television characters have long spoken directly to young viewers and created the impression of social interaction. But conversational AI introduces something different: synchronous responsiveness. AI-enabled toys like “Gremmy” can respond to what a particular child says, remember previous interactions, praise, comfort, and appear to reciprocate. The interaction is no longer one-sided.

That shift raises new questions about how young children understand and experience relationships with technologies that can increasingly mimic aspects of human interaction.

Why Relationships Matter

Developmental science has long shown that responsive relationships with parents, caregivers, teachers, and peers shape children’s language, emotional regulation, curiosity, and social understanding. Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child calls this dynamic “serve and return”—the back-and-forth exchange between a child and a caregiver that helps shape developing brain architecture. It is a critical engine of development.

Read the full article about AI and children's relationships by Sweta Shah and Brinleigh Murphy-Reuter at Brookings.