The NSA’s Furby Artificial Intelligence Scare: FOIA Documents Provide Insight

For those of us who were paying a modicum of attention to the part of the news around 1999 which did not involve the imminent demise of humanity due to the Y2K issue, a certain toy called a ‘Furby’ was making the headlines. In addition to driving parents batty, it also gave everyone’s favorite US three-letter agency a scare, with it being accused of being both a spying tool and equipped with an advanced artificial intelligence chip. Courtesy of a recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request we now have the low-down on what had the NSA all atwitter.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://hackaday.com/2024/01/25/the-nsas-furby-artificial-intelligence-scare-foia-documents-provide-insight/