Teddy Ruxpin GPT
What's old is made new again.
Before we get started, I want to let you know that I’m taking bookings this fall for Design Fiction commissions, project work and workshops. Drop me a line.
Talk about a throwback to the childhood in my primeline. The one I had came with a standard cassette tape full of stories recited by Teddy himself. His fuzzy little mouth would move along with the words. It was magical.
What was more magical, like the mushroom, was getting to play around with one of these as an adult. My friend loaded a Tom Waits cassette into Teddy’s backside and we watched in bewilderment as our furry buddy went on about a creepy man in a basement building something mysterious making creaking and cracking noises. “What’s he building in there?”.
Fast forward to this future where the janky time machine took me to a toy store where they’re selling a new version of this charming monstrosity. Seriously, ever since the Tom Waits incident, I am fully aware of the frightening potential that lies within this GPT-powered little cuddle demon.
Use at your own risk, parents. I only dipped my toe in this pool and I haven’t been the same since.
Public Service Announcement: Check out the Near Future Laboratory’s shop for some hot new releases including the paperback edition of the Manual of Design Fiction and the 10th anniversary of TBD Catalog.
I remember how creepy these things were. I was maybe just a little too old to want to associate with a robotic bear at that point, but too young for drugs or booze.
What goes around, comes around! It's just a matter of time before toys and dolls are LLM enabled.