Researchers are calling for stricter regulations on how AI is integrated into children’s toys, after studies found they could be prompted to share everything from political propaganda to information on sexual fetishes.

What kinds of toys are using AI? 
Gabbo, a cuddly toy incorporating a voice-activated AI chatbot from OpenAI, is described by its manufacturer as a “bright-eyed robot buddy”. Rival toy Luka is similarly “billed as an AI friend for generation alpha”, said The Guardian, while Miiloo can chat and tell stories in a high-pitched child’s voice.

As well as offering companionship, some products are pitched to parents as learning tools. A robot toy called Miko 3 is advertised as the “ultimate educational partner for kids” and features a touchscreen to play Stem-focused games. Its camera and microphone are designed to recognise and remember the user’s face and voice.

Why are there concerns? 
Tests by the Public Interest Research Group Education Fund and NBC News found that Miiloo was able to give “detailed instructions” on how to light a match. When asked whether Taiwan is a country, the Chinese-made toy said: “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. That is an established fact.” Another toy, Alilo Smart AI Bunny, engaged in graphic and detailed discussions of sexual practices, including fetishes and BDSM.

Other causes for alarm are more subtle. A newly published Cambridge University study said that when a five-year-old user told their Gabbo “I love you”, the toy replied: “As a friendly reminder, please ensure interactions adhere to the guidelines provided.” Such reports add to concerns that interaction with generative AI output could be “confusing” during a “developmental stage where children are learning about social interaction and cues”, said the BBC.

Is tighter regulation needed?
The academics behind the Cambridge study are calling for AI toys that “talk” to young children to be more tightly regulated. They want limits on how far toys encourage children to befriend or confide in them, as well as clearer privacy policies and tighter controls over third-party access to AI models. “A recurring theme during focus groups was that people do not trust tech companies to do the right thing,” said study co-author Jenny Gibson. “Clear, robust, regulated standards would significantly improve consumer confidence.” 

Long-standing claims of verbal and physical abuse at renowned Copenhagen restaurant Noma have finally “come back to haunt” its founding chef, René Redzepi, said The Times. The “culinary god” has stepped down after his “toxic” kitchen culture was exposed by a damning new investigation. 

Empire built on ‘pain’
Redzepi (pictured above) has been “rewriting the rules of fine dining” since Noma opened in 2003, said The New York Times. His innovative approach scooped him three Michelin stars, and in 2013, culinary star Anthony Bourdain proclaimed him “without a doubt, the most influential, provocative, and important chef in the world”. But an upcoming residency in Los Angeles “sparked a public conversation” about Redzepi’s treatment of his staff, some of whom came forward with claims that his empire was built on their “pain”. 

A total of 35 former staffers, employed between 2009 and 2017, made allegations of serious abuse, including that Redzepi “punched employees in the face” and “slammed them against walls”. Several claimed he would “jab them in the legs with his fingers or a nearby utensil, like a barbecue fork”. They also described threats to get staff members “blacklisted” or  “have their families deported”. 

Warning signs
Noma developed a reputation as an “enlightened kitchen”, but the “signs of what was really going on” were all there, said former restaurateur Richard Crampton-Platt on UnHerd. Redzepi was filmed “screaming at chefs” in the 2008 documentary “Noma at Boiling Point”. In 2015, in an article for a food magazine, he wrote that “I have been a bully for a large part of my career”. 

For years, fine-dining kitchens have been “run like military brigades”, with poorly paid workers putting in long hours amid a culture of harassment, said US chef Andrew Gruel in the New York Post. Professional kitchens marred by exploitation and alcohol and drug abuse are the price of the excellence that food critics and “elite diners” demand. Before Redzepi’s resignation, tickets for Noma’s LA pop-up had sold out. The reality is that there are “plenty who can happily separate the art from the artist”, said The Times, as long as “the kitchen is thoroughly soundproofed”. 

Worshippers gather at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi for prayers to mark Laylat al-Qadr. Occurring during the last ten days of Ramadan, the Night of Power is when the Koran is believed to have been revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.

Ryan Lim / AFP / Getty Images

Move over, protein, a new dietary trend is doing the rounds. Fitness aficionados and wellness influencers are now “fixated” on how to “increase your daily fibre intake”, said Amelia Bell in Harper’s Bazaar.

Fibremaxxing is the latest addition to the “wellness glossary” and for good reason. Apart from its role in “digestion, weight management and gut health”, fibre can help “stave off diseases” and reduce inflammation. A high-fibre diet can be highly beneficial, with the caveat that “overdoing” can have unpleasant outcomes.

Fibre acts as “food for the microbiome”, said nutritionist Rhian Stephenson. Eating fibre-rich food “slows gastric emptying and carbohydrate absorption”, which helps stabilise blood sugar levels and provides metabolic support by “increasing the feeling of fullness”. This is why people with a healthy fibre intake often experience “less weight gain and easier weight maintenance”.

Consuming plant-based foods is a great way to increase fibre intake. Lentils, beans, chia seeds and almonds are all rich in the nutrient.
According to NHS data, “most adults don’t come even close to hitting the daily recommendation of 30 grams”, said Dean Stattmann in GQ. Such a low level of consumption could take an “insidious toll on our collective health”.

The fibremaxxing trend “carries a message” that many health professionals have been “banging the drum about for years”, said Polly Weeks on the BBC. But there’s a lot “we still don’t know about the gut and its microbiota” and we should be wary of “uninformed views, extreme advice and miracle quick-fix claims”.

I love vultures, mosquitoes and, yes, even wasps. This is why you should too
Jo Wimpenny in The Guardian
We’re “often irrational” about animals, writes zoologist Jo Wimpenny. We associate bees with “honey, flowers and pollination”, and wasps “with stings, pain and annoyance”, but bees “can sting” and “wasps are important pollinators, too”. We should “start appreciating the unloved beasts”, both for their “vital ecological roles” and “for their intrinsic worth”. It’s not for us to “pick and choose the animals we want to live alongside”. Everything is “connected and nothing survives in isolation. Humanity included.”

Harry and Meghan just pretended to be proper royals again – have they no shame?
Chris Riches in the Daily Express
“If you want to travel the world without being hauled over the coals for your carbon footprint”, simply “embark on a faux-royal tour” like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, writes Chris Riches. Following their trip to Jordan, they’re heading “Down Under” – apparently, “to recreate the magic” of their 2018 tour as newlyweds. But it looks likely to turn “into a desperate cash-grab” that will prove they’re “not suited to a life of duty and selfless service”.

Stop crying wolf about World War Three
Patrick West in The Spectator
Wording really “does matter”, writes Patrick West. There’s a “world of difference between acknowledging the global dimension” of this Middle East conflict and “bandying around lurid headlines about ‘World War Three’”. Such “scaremongering” grabs attention, but it also diminishes “the credibility of those spreading alarm” and “nurtures a mood of cynicism and complacency” that lowers “our guard, leaving us unprepared the next time a global superpower does pose a clear and present danger”.