Mattel cancels personal assistant for children assistent

Mattel won’t release the Aristotle after all. At the beginning of this year, the toy manufacturer unveiled the personal assistant for children and parents, but the new technical chief of the company considers the release ‘not in line with the new strategy’.

Mattel’s CTO, Sven Gerjets, who joined the company in July, has had the product tested extensively, but Aristotle would not be part of the company’s drive to bring “the best possible Internet-connected product” to consumers. Mattel reports this in a statement to AFP.

The removal of the personal assistant follows privacy objections, including from American politicians. Critics point to the dangers of sending children’s sensitive data for commercial purposes. In the past, toy manufacturer Vtech was discredited after children’s personal data was made public after a hack.

Aristotle, according to Mattel, had to end up in children’s rooms so that preschoolers could ask questions of the assistant. The speaker also had to provide music and sound effects for toys. Parents should be able to monitor their children through a camera, and parents should be able to order diapers and other products through Amazon’s Alexa.