Mattel Mulls AI-Powered Toys With OpenAI Partnership

Mattel reportedly teamed with OpenAI to weave artificial intelligence into its products.

The toymaker, whose brands include Barbie and Hot Wheels, signed a deal to use OpenAI’s tools and could create digital assistants based on Mattel characters, Bloomberg reported Thursday (June 12).

The technology could also be used to make products like the Magic 8 Ball or the card game Uno more interactive, OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap Mattel Chief Franchise Officer Josh Silverman said, according to the report.

“We plan to announce something towards the tail end of this year, and it’s really across the spectrum of physical products and some experiences,” Silverman said, declining to comment on the collaboration’s first product, per the report. “Leveraging this incredible technology is going to allow us to really reimagine the future of play.”

Mattel isn’t licensing its intellectual property to OpenAI as part of the deal, Silverman said, and retains control of the products being created, according to the report. Introductory discussions between the two companies began in late 2024.

Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz has been seeking to transition the company from a toy manufacturer to a producer of films, TV shows, and mobile games based on its characters. OpenAI, meanwhile, has been courting companies with intellectual property to help it develop new products based on iconic brands, the report said.

“The idea exploration phase of creative design for companies like Mattel and many others, that’s a critical part of the workflow,” Lightcap said, per the report. “As we think about how AI builds tools that extend that capability, I think we’re very lucky to have partners like Mattel that we can work with to better understand that problem.”

This week, Hightouch co-founder and co-CEO Tejas Manohar discussed with PYMNTS the use of AI decisioning in marketing.

AI decisioning is a model that pairs each customer with a personalized agent capable of interpreting intent, timing and content preferences.

“It’s like going into a bank and meeting a teller who knows you,” Manohar said. “They’re not just going to minute-one tell you about offer X and keep repeating it. But that’s what it feels like receiving marketing communications from a lot of brands today.”

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