Mattel abandoned plans to release a device that aimed to be the Amazon Echo for small children because it did not "fully align with Mattel's new technology strategy," according to a statement to The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Instead of just playing music or ordering a product on Amazon.com, the Aristotle aimed to use similar technology to help soothe a crying baby, reinforce good manners in kids, and even help children learn a foreign language.



Mattel's announcement that it was not releasing the device came two days after concerned parents, privacy experts, and child psychologists petitioned the company to halt its planned release of the product, arguing that the device encourages babies to form bonds with inanimate objects and use information it collects for targeted advertising.

Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, also sent a letter to the company asking Mattel to give additional information about how the device will record children and how it will protect and store the information.



"We shouldn’t be using kids as AI experiments," Josh Golin, executive director of the privacy advocacy group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, told BuzzFeed News. "If we don't know what the effect is, then we shouldn’t be putting that in children’s bedrooms."

Golin's group partnered with the Story of Stuff Project, an advocacy group that made a documentary about commercialism and the environment, to put forward the petition.



Mattel told The Washington Post that it had decided not to release the product after Sven Gerjets, the company's chief technology officer, joined the company in July. Gerjets decided "not to bring Aristotle to the marketplace as part of an ongoing effort to deliver the best possible connected product experience to the consumer," the company said.

Golin said that Mattel's announcement that it won't bring Aristotle to market "should send a strong message to other toymakers and tech companies with plans for their own surveillance devices for young children.”

“This is a tremendous victory for everyone who believes children still have a right to privacy and that essential caregiving functions should never be outsourced to robots," said Golin.

