Former technical backbones of Huawei, OPPO, and Tencent created an AI "little house" that tells stories for foreign children | Exclusive interview by 36Kr

Author | Zhang Ziyi

Editor | Yuan Silai

“Dad, I want to eat McDonald's. My mouth is like a living - room for French fries...”

After letting his children try out their own products for some time, Ma Xiucheng was surprised to hear his children using some peculiar metaphors in daily life. This became one of the most positive feedbacks they received.

In middle age, Ma Xiucheng and his later partner Pan Xuan left the mobile phone industry where they had worked for decades. At this time, their identities changed, and they both became “fathers”.

In the process of learning how to be a “father”, they found inspiration for entrepreneurship - to create an AI toy for children. As parents, their needs were clear: no screen, the ability to tell stories to children and stimulate their imagination.

Different from the popular doll - shaped AI toys nowadays, Talenpal, as a toy, looks a bit “abstract”. Its appearance is like a small house, with a miniature display screen for simple text - picture or picture prompts.

After purchasing Talenpal, users will be given a set of dolls for free. Each doll has a different IP image and is pre - installed with specific stories, music or learning activities. For example, Gigi the giraffe has bedtime healing content, Jett the cheetah has content related to the exploration of nature and life, Nora the fox has warm friendship stories, Pipa the hippo has stories about emotional intelligence growth, and Tubby the bear has stories about cultivating daily habits...

When a child puts a doll on Talenpal's pavilion, it can play stories. By pressing the chimney, the child can start a conversation with the AI.

The AI toy industry has been booming in the past two years. According to data from the market research company Market Research Future, the global AI toy market size exceeded $11 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $58 billion by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of over 20%.

While startups are in fierce competition, big companies have also entered the market. At its Mate 80 press conference, Huawei launched an emotional companion - chatting AI toy called “Smart Dumb”, which sold 100,000 units in the first week of pre - sale.

Talenpal's advantage lies overseas. They mainly target the US market, where there are high thresholds for bill compliance, data security compliance, and the combination of hardware and software.

Most importantly, the IP stories of Talenpal are based on overseas picture - book copyrights, and are re - produced in combination with a domestic content team. They are the company's exclusive IP assets. “These capabilities can be achieved by domestic companies, but there is a time cost,” Ma Xiucheng told Hard Krypton.

We had a chat with Ma Xiucheng from Talenpal about children, AI toys, AI security and observations on the industry.

01 Screen - less AI toys can stimulate children's imagination

Hard Krypton: Could you introduce the background of your team?

Ma Xiucheng: I used to work in Huawei's Consumer BG, mainly responsible for the R & D of Huawei's mobile phone products. I also took charge of OPPO's global overseas carrier business and worked in Europe for three years.

Another core founder used to be the VP at Goertek, responsible for the R & D of Apple's audio products and also in charge of the R & D of innovative products at EcoFlow.

Both core founders have managed the R & D of Huawei and Apple products. Other core team members include those from Tencent, Coolpad, Amazon, Indare Design, etc. We are a team with diverse backgrounds, having capabilities in consumer electronics, content production and going global.

Hard Krypton: When did you start thinking about making this product?

Ma Xiucheng: I'm the father of two little boys, twins who are both 4 years old. So the form of this product comes from the perception and insight into life and the sensitivity to user needs. Generally, for children aged 3 - 6, it is the sensitive period for imagination in Montessori education. If children aged 3 - 6 are indulged in screen - based media, it will be unfavorable for the construction of their imagination. So we first wanted to make a screen - less product.

Children born after 2020 can be defined as the AI - Native generation. This generation of children should have their own toys. I found that my children were very attached to chatting with Doubao. So I thought about how to combine this screen - less product form with AI, which should be a highly innovative product. Starting from this concept, we conducted a large amount of user research. To shape children's imagination and ignite their creativity, three elements are indispensable: symbol stimulation (such as diverse doll forms), narrative framework (clear stories) and interactive response (timely feedback on fantasies). So in product definition, high - quality children's content, cute doll IP images and friendly AI interaction need to be combined. It took nearly a year to polish the first - generation product.

Hard Krypton: Screens are very harmful to children, but it's hard to avoid screens in current smart products. At which stage did you decide to make a screen - less AI toy?

Ma Xiucheng: We studied child development psychology, especially the pre - operational stage from 3 - 6 years old proposed by Piaget. This is the stage when children's language and imagination are most active. A concrete “screen” can easily make them addicted and lack imagination, and it's also bad for their eyes.

We judged that before the age of 7, the story - telling machine form is more suitable, allowing children to imagine through listening to stories. The screen - less mode can maximally stimulate children's imagination. I found that after listening to the content of our product, my child really applied it in daily life.

I'll give two vivid examples. One day he told me “Dad, I want to eat McDonald's”, and he said “My mouth is the living - room for French fries”. Another day, when it was raining and I took him to buy fish and go home, he said “If I eat the little fish, my stomach will be the little fish's umbrella”.

Hard Krypton: That's very interesting. How long has your child been using this toy? How does he play with it, and how did you find that his imagination has become richer and more interesting?

Ma Xiucheng: After the product demo came out, I let my children use it, and I also carefully compared the usage differences with other products. Traditional products usually only allow children to listen, making it difficult for them to speak. Parents definitely hope their children can express more. I also bought some AI - chatting toys for my children, but due to the lack of pre - set story content input, it was also difficult for children to ask good questions.

I observed my children using our product. First, they listen to stories, and during the process, they will expand their imagination. They will ask some good questions related to the story content, and then the AI can give more interesting answers, further opening up their imagination.

This is the positive feedback I observed in real life. As the father of two little boys, I'm really excited. In product design, we adopted the shape of a small house, which also comes from life and makes children feel familiar.

At the same time, it is paired with cute doll images. Each doll can start a story when placed on it. Each of our dolls has a different world - view setting, and these world - views are in line with children's growth needs. These doll images, story content and AI interaction are all coupled with each other. We have achieved the unity of IP + content + AI.

Hard Krypton: Can other toys tell stories when placed on the house besides your dolls?

Ma Xiucheng: No. In our ecosystem, all stories are self - produced, and the system can automatically recognize the dolls. If you put other products on it, there won't be any stories behind them.

Hard Krypton: You have many familiar images. How did you solve the problems of IP concept and copyright protection?

Ma Xiucheng: These images are basically designed by ourselves or selected from public IPs like Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Hard Krypton: Since the hardware was developed based on children's usage, why did you think of investing a lot of energy in content and positioning the AI toy for young children? What was the motivation?

Ma Xiucheng: We conducted global user research. Stories are a strong necessity for children. Children everywhere have similar needs, but there are huge pain - points in how to tell stories. We found that families usually have a large number of systematic picture - book resources, which can systematically meet children's needs at different stages, such as emotional recognition at 3 years old and social skills at 4 years old. However, children at this age have reading difficulties and need adult assistance. Most similar toys in North America are single - point AI conversations or entertainment - oriented stories, lacking systematicness.

Our core difference lies in: we start from a scientific content system. We anchor a main world - view line for each IP image (such as a duck teaching expression, a bear teaching social skills). The stories are supported by the hidden lines of picture - book series, and then combined with the adjusted AI conversation mode. This system can systematically teach children to better recognize emotions and socialize. This is a very scientific and systematic design, which is our original intention.

Hard Krypton: Picture - books can stimulate imagination and build an image world. Your screen - less AI toy relies entirely on sound. Will this be a great test for children's concentration and lack the image - building function of picture - books?

Ma Xiucheng: First of all, many parents are naturally resistant to screens. Just like Chinese parents, American parents don't want their children to enter the screen - based world when they are 3 - 6 years old. Screens can limit imagination and are a form of one - way indoctrination. We are very sure of this.

We utilize the “auditory blank - filling” effect. Picture - books fill in all the pictures, and children are passively receiving; while sound leaves blanks, and children have to build pictures in their minds when they hear the descriptions. This forces children to actively mobilize their imagination. At the same time, we use the “instant interaction” of AI to lock children's attention. Children's thinking is jumpy, and AI can respond instantly. The child asks a question and it answers, and the fun of this high - frequency interaction can make children sit still even without a screen. This is a double - depth exercise for concentration and imagination.

02 An AI toy without content is just an empty shell

Hard Krypton: Could you specifically share the process of this technical connection? When a toy is placed on the house and the button is pressed for a conversation, how do you ensure there is no delay or off - topic in the AI interaction?

Ma Xiucheng: Our servers are deployed locally in the United States, directly using US models and combining the refinement and processing of local knowledge bases to ensure lower latency. We have done a lot of detailed work on the refinement of the knowledge base and personality optimization, just to give children the feeling that “it really understands me”.

Hard Krypton: There have been examples overseas where teenagers had self - harm - inducing or inappropriate conversations with AI. How do you ensure that children won't accidentally trigger and obtain inappropriate information during conversations?

Ma Xiucheng: Parents' concern about the safety of children's products far exceeds people's imagination. We have implemented multi - layer protection.

The first layer is the underlying model. We have selected the safest underlying large - scale model for children in the United States and made restrictions to make it more friendly to teenagers. The second layer is the local RAG (knowledge base). Different from other manufacturers, because we focus on content, we have a large amount of story content materials. After refinement and processing, we can optimize the local RAG. The third layer is the intelligent agent. Each of our doll intelligent agents has a corresponding and different world - view. Professional AI engineers are responsible for the prompts to make the intelligent agents closer to our characters. This debugging is also done with the help of US experts.

In addition, we have also designed a voice - cloning function. This comes from my own experience. When parents are not around, how to use a familiar voice to tell stories to children to provide them with a sense of familiarity and security. When parents are present, we encourage them to interact together. For North American parents, cloning the voices of grandparents as a Christmas gift is also very valuable.

Hard Krypton: What's the user feedback after the product was launched?

Ma Xiucheng: The product has just been launched on the market, but we have already collected some user feedback.

We can summarize it into three points. First, the “screen substitution rate” is very high. The most surprising thing is that our product can really pull children away from iPads, and children can listen attentively for a longer time, not just playing with it for a while and then throwing it away. Second, “reducing the burden of parenting”. Our product is like an always - on assistant, allowing parents to free up their hands to do other things, truly reducing the pressure of parenting. Third, “high - frequency companionship”. Many parents have reported that this is not a toy that children play with for a while and then abandon. Children use it frequently in real life, and it's really worth buying.

Hard Krypton: You mainly focus on the US and European markets, but the parenting concepts and IP preferences vary from country to country. Will this bring challenges to your product localization?

Ma Xiucheng: Our product has strong cultural flexibility. For example, we have an independent website in North America, and the largest toy manufacturer in the Middle East has also actively contacted us.

There are taboos in the Middle East. For example, Peppa Pig cannot be used. They hope for stories with a Middle - Eastern flavor, retaining traditional prayers and Quran - related content, and are more inclined to Arabic. The United States also has demands for Spanish because there are many bilingual or multilingual families. Nordic countries pay more attention to social and emotional education. The demands in different regions are really different.

For us, flexibility means that many resources are already in place. We only need to adapt the language and match the IP images. For example, in the Middle East, we can have a camel IP to interpret local culture. Our content industrial production capacity is already in place.

Hard Krypton: You attach great importance to content copyright. Does entering different markets mean that you need to purchase a large amount of different content and find new voice - actors? Will the entire production chain be very long?

Ma Xiucheng: This is indeed a difficult path, but it also forms a moat. Many manufacturers are reluctant to deal with content, thinking it is too heavy and slow. But we believe that an AI toy without good content is just an empty shell.

03 Hardware is just a physical carrier

Hard Krypton: How are the dolls priced?

Ma Xiucheng: The dolls are priced differently, ranging from $10 to $15. Behind each doll is a “soul” that we spend a lot of time polishing.

The cost investment behind this product is very high. Our pricing strategy reflects the content value and IP value of the product. We don't sell cheap plastics; we sell carefully - designed characters and continuously updated interactive experiences.

Hard Krypton: The child - growth report generated by AI involves children's privacy issues. How do you consider this aspect?

Ma Xiucheng: All our user data and servers are deployed locally in the United States, and we will not collect or transmit any user information. We have done a lot of work in this regard to ensure full compliance. Our attitude is: no compromise, no hidden dangers. A large part of our energy is also spent on this.

Hard Krypton: Could you briefly introduce the current situation of the US AI toy market and the main products? Does Talenpal have originality in this market?

Ma Xiucheng: The US toy market is very large, worth tens of billions of dollars. This market can be reshaped in the AI era. Children listening to stories and playing with toys are as natural as basic human needs like food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Talenpal is the first to combine AI with localized children's content and the global - going strategy, and it has extremely high originality globally, creating a new way of playing in this category.

Hard Krypton: Domestic manufacturers have strong learning abilities. Are you worried that your product will be quickly imitated?

Ma Xiucheng: Not at all. We welcome healthy competition. Because the threshold of this industry is much higher than it seems: First is the global compliance threshold. Solving privacy and security issues in high - value markets requires extremely high professionalism; Second is the cross - border integration ability. It is very difficult to integrate the capabilities of hardware, AI, content, SaaS services and child psychology into the same product; Third is the continuous re - creation ability of content, which requires time to precipitate. These tasks require a large amount