It appears that no industry is can afford to immune AI at this point.
OpenAI has tied up with Mattel, the company behind Hot Wheels and the Barbie dolls, to being AI to toys. The two companies have struck a deal to help design and develop toys using OpenAI’s technology. The first product as a collaboration between these two companies is expected to debut later this year.
“With OpenAI, Mattel has access to an advanced set of AI capabilities alongside new tools to enable productivity, creativity, and company-wide transformation at scale,” said Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer at OpenAI. “Our work with OpenAI will enable us to leverage new technologies to solidify our leadership in innovation and reimagine new forms of play,” said Josh Silverman, chief franchise officer of Mattel.
The deal does not entail licensing Mattel’s intellectual property to OpenAI, and Mattel will retain full creative control over its products. The partnership also includes Mattel adopting ChatGPT Enterprise across its business to bolster product development and creative brainstorming with the aim of accelerating innovation.
The deal represents one of the first few instances of AI being integrated into a previously non-technical product. A host of AI companies have been looking to build AI-first hardware products — OpenAI, for its part, has acquired Jony Ive’s startup to work on a hardware device, and Meta and Google are building AI-enabled glasses. Meanwhile, there are startups like Humane and Rabbit that are looking to build AI-powered hardware devices of their own. But it turns out that many non-tech devices could end up becoming AI-powered in the coming years. Marc Andreessen has said that he expects everything to be rebuilt using AI. And with even Barbie dolls getting an AI makeover, that might end up turning out to be true.