(Yicai) Nov. 19 -- China is pushing to grow its USD4 billion artificial intelligence toy industry, encouraging collaboration between toymakers and AI developers and raising safety standards to protect children while promoting higher-value, culturally resonant AI toys.

China will encourage toy and AI businesses to work more closely together to create more demand, produce more AI toys, and lead consumer trends, He Yaqiong, who heads the consumer goods industry department at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a press conference yesterday.

The market for AI toys in China was worth around CNY24.6 billion (USD3.46 billion) last year, and is expected to rise to CNY29 billion this year, according to data from the MIIT.

Toys are becoming an important new area for integrating and applying AI technologies, He said.

Thanks to large language and vision models, AI toys can “understand,” “see,” and “think,” responding, learning, and interacting with users, He said. When fused with “China-chic” intellectual property, they also encompass both high tech and cultural depth, greatly increasing their value, he added.

The MIIT will step up coordination with other government departments to work on policy, product innovation, and regulated development of the industry, He said. At the same time, the ministry will draw up safety standards to ensure that AI toys do not endanger children’s physical or mental health and protect data privacy.

The MIIT also provided an update on revisions to four mandatory national standards for toy safety. New requirements have been introduced for 10 types of potentially harmful substances, including formaldehyde, total volatile organic compounds, short-chain chlorinated paraffins, and boron.

The ministry said it has added technical requirements for new products with open flames and food-shaped toys, and it has optimized specific requirements for product subcategories such as yo-yos and inflatable toys.

“The revised standards raise the pass score for toys to be considered qualified from 60 points to 90 points,” He pointed out.

Retail toy sales in China stood at CNY97.85 billion (USD13.76 billion) last year, up 26 percent from 2020, and USD39.87 billion of toys were exported, with more than 40 percent going to the United States and the European Union.

Editor: Tom Litting