Brinquedos digitais: mais alertas de saúde – Orientações para famílias e pediatras sobre brinquedos com Inteligência Artificial (Nota de Orientação e Alerta nº 70)

Key Findings

• — Given limited evidence on long-term effects of everyday interaction with toys using generative AI, the SBP recommends caution in offering these products and preference for alternatives that do not depend on those functions, especially where no benefit to the child is clearly demonstrated
• — If it is unclear how the product works, what it collects over the internet, with whom data are shared, what protections it offers or why an AI function is needed, the note recommends not buying it
• — Products designed to simulate friendship, affection, care or emotional support ('companions', 'friends') merit additional caution and should not replace human relationships; the note states that conversational or relational AI systems such as AI companions are not toys
• — Family checklist items include whether the toy uses generative AI or open conversation, whether the child will understand it is interacting with AI, whether it simulates friendship or care, and whether it uses profiling, behavioural personalisation or retention mechanisms, each tied to ECA Digital or Decree 12.880/2026 provisions (art. 11 transparency of synthetic nature, prevention of behavioural manipulation, algorithmic risk assessment and developmental safeguards)
• — Signs that merit more detailed clinical evaluation: persistent difficulty stopping use, intense distress when the product becomes unavailable, dependence or problematic use, exposure to inappropriate content, isolation, major sleep or routine changes, and growing preference for artificial interaction over in-person relationships; the note states these findings do not on their own establish a causal link
• — Recourse routes listed for families: request correction or deletion of the child's data (LGPD art. 18), withdraw from online purchases within seven days (CDC art. 49), use providers' mandatory notification channels (ECA Digital art. 28), and complain to Procon, consumidor.gov.br or the ANPD

Methodology Notes

Professional-society guidance note (Nota de Orientação e Alerta nº 70, dated 9 October 2026), 19 pages, written by the SBP Digital Health Working Group (management term 2025-2028; coordinator Evelyn Eisenstein) with collaborators Alessandra Borelli (digital-rights lawyer), Ricardo Lins Horta (Ministry of Justice and Public Security) and George Valença. It is a narrative synthesis with 31 references (AAP statements, a 2026 Pediatrics review, the UNICEF 'When AI becomes a friend' brief, SEDIGI Technical Note 24/2026 on smart toys, Brazilian statutes); it reports no new empirical data. The document page on sbp.com.br is dated 09/10/2026; PDF metadata creation date 2026-10-08. A national press wave via Agência Brasil followed on 2026-10-21. sbp.com.br returns 403 to direct requests; the document page and the PDF were retrieved through Wayback Save Page Now on 2026-10-22.

Sources