Mattel cancels its Aristotle smart speaker after complaints

Earlier this month I wrote about a controversy brewing around toy firm Mattel’s plans to launch a ‘smart speaker’ for children called Aristotle. Now the company has cancelled those plans.

Aristotle was unveiled as an Amazon Echo-style device for kids earlier this year: it would tell stories, answer questions and play voice-controlled games.

However, the device was criticised by campaigning groups the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and The Story of Stuff Project, who delivered a 15,000-signature petition to Mattel asking it to abandon the planned launch.

Now it has. The Washington Post reported that Mattel has ditched the project because it did not “fully align with Mattel’s new technology strategy”. The company had previously been criticised for its plans for a talking Barbie doll that would learn key facts about children and incorporate them into its conversations, so it’s no stranger to these kinds of controversy.

The CCFC had warm words for Mattel on news of Aristotle’s demise. “We commend Mattel for putting children’s well-being first and listening to the concerns of child development experts and thousands of parents who urged them not to release this device,” said its executive director Josh Golin.

“This is a tremendous victory for everyone who believes children still have a right to privacy and that robots can never replace loving humans as caregivers.”

How temporary a victory? Both Amazon and Google are launching child-friendly experiences for their Echo and Google Home smart speakers, so there may be more arguments ahead over how children interact with these kinds of devices, and what sort of data the companies that make them are storing as a result.