Process and Documentation

Originally, PlushiePal challenged the role of parenting; the toy would over time gather enough knowledge to literally parent the child, giving advice on such chores and necessities like getting to school on time and when to sleep. In this universe, the child would develop a higher reliance on the PlushiePal than on the human parents, and the result caused the human parents to become jealous of the PlushiePal because it would have experienced more of the child’s life than they would have. The child would call after the PlushiePal, forgetting the role of its own parents.

After further development and questioning the plausibility of a personal assistant AI with the unique ability of parenting a child, we began to explore behavioral characteristics in response to an AI. Our new challenge question explored the behavioral development of a child growing up with a PlushiePal, a toy that would take on the role of a friend. This new exploration questioned the how negative behaviors in children could develop after positive reinforcement by a personal AI.