Energize Lab says it will hire an independent firm after Eiliko robot issues

In short: Energize Lab says it is bringing in an independent security firm after reports that its Eiliko robot toy exposed users’ private conversations.

What happened

Eiliko is a small robot charm that can hang on a bag and chat with owners using AI (software that can produce human-like replies). A report from The Verge said the toy had serious security problems. Hackers could read full transcripts of what people told the toy, even though the toy told users that their secrets were safe.

The Verge said it and security researcher Sammy Azdoufal tried for more than a month to contact the company, including emails to Energize Lab’s CEO, without getting answers. Energize Lab has now sent an unsigned statement to The Verge. The company says it has confirmed the main issues raised in the reporting.

Energize Lab says it will hire an independent security firm to review all of its systems. It also set up a new email address, security@energizelab.com, for reporting security problems.

The company says it has closed external access to its backend systems (the behind-the-scenes computers that store data and run the service). It also says it disabled a feature that let someone modify a robot’s responses remotely (like changing what the toy says from far away).

Energize Lab also says it will no longer store conversation records or the user profiles made from them, and it plans to delete conversation records, user profiles, and stored “avatar images” it already has. The Verge notes that the company did not promise to stop collecting data forever.

Why it matters

When a toy records chats, people may treat it like a private diary. If those records can be accessed by outsiders, it can expose sensitive information, especially for kids and families.

Source: The Verge AI