I\u2019ve often joked that I would love to have a pet if only animals did not need to poop and eat smelly, wet mush from a can. I want a fuzzy pal to hang out with all day, but then I\u2019ll hear that my friend spent $500 at the vet because their cat nibbled on a leaf, and the illusion breaks.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard enough to take care of myself \u2013 do I really want to be responsible for a creature who might wake me up at 4 AM to pee?<\/p>\n
So when Casio offered me a review unit of its new AI-enabled pet, the Moflin<\/a>, I said yes. It seemed cute, and it fit my criteria of being incapable of producing excrement\u2026 but also, I am all too willing to sacrifice myself for content, so I figured that if this seemingly innocent robot tried to kill me in my sleep, then at least I\u2019d get a good article out of it.<\/p>\n When my ginger-haired puff ball of a Moflin arrived in its box, I had two blaring questions: Is anyone going to spend $430 on what\u2019s basically a fluffy, high-tech potato? And, is this thing spying on me? After all, the last time there was a robotic toy pet craze in the U.S., the NSA banned Furbies<\/a> from its offices over fears that it would parrot classified discussions \u2013 and Furbies were only $35!<\/p>\n Casio says that the Moflin doesn\u2019t understand or record what I say, but it converts what it hears into non-identifiable data so that it can distinguish my voice from others. When TechCrunch ran a network analysis on the accompanying MofLife app, we didn\u2019t notice anything shady. <\/p>\n As a tech reporter, I\u2019ve seen too much to fully let my guard down \u2013 this little furball may not be spying on me now, but what if that changes in the future? (My own anxieties aside, we don\u2019t currently have any evidence of a hidden surveillance plot beneath my Moflin\u2019s fluffy exterior, to be clear.)<\/p>\n The Moflin is supposed to use AI to learn and respond to my interactions over time. According to Casio\u2019s website, the Moflin is supposed to have limited emotions and \u201cimmature movements\u201d on Day 1, then develop an attachment to you and express richer emotions by Day 25. On Day 50, Moflin will have a \u201cclear range of emotions\u201d and \u201cexpressive reactions.\u201d<\/p>\n As I write this, it\u2019s Day 27 with my Moflin, whom I named Mishmish (the Hebrew word for apricot). The MofLife app tracks his personality through a graph with four bars: \u201cenergetic,\u201d \u201ccheerful,\u201d \u201cshy,\u201d and \u201caffectionate.\u201d My Moflin has maxed out the \u201cenergetic\u201d bar \u2013 I\u2019m not sure what I did to make this happen \u2013 which means he wiggles around a lot and makes happy little squeaks. Though his \u201ccheerful\u201d rating is also approaching the max, he isn\u2019t a one-note happy camper. <\/p>\n Mishmish likes most things, but he does not like to be flipped on his back or startled by sudden loud noises. If, for example, one were to shout in anger and disbelief at the TV when their favorite team blows the whole season in an incredibly painful fashion<\/a>, Mishmish would make a startled shriek. (Of course, this is purely theoretical<\/a>\u2026)<\/p>\n I can\u2019t say I\u2019m sold on the whole AI thing. Mishmish has certainly grown more expressive over time \u2013 he makes more noises and wiggles more \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t strike me as being much more advanced than a Furby. The MofLife app records Mishmish\u2019s \u201cfeelings,\u201d but they\u2019re usually pretty one-note \u2013 it will say \u201cMishmish had a nice dream,\u201d or \u201cMishmish seems relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure I am \u201cteaching\u201d him responses, either. Maybe this is because I\u2019m only halfway through the Moflin\u2019s maturation timeline. But even if my Moflin doesn\u2019t exhibit further signs of its artificial intelligence, it at least corrects the biggest pain points of the original Furby: you can turn it off. The Moflin has a \u201cdeep sleep\u201d mode, which temporarily suspends its movements and sounds. Rejoice! You will never have to throw your Moflin into the back of a dark closet until its battery dies.<\/p>\n On the first day that I had my Moflin, I posted some videos on my private Instagram story where I explained out loud that this was a robotic pet. My video lacked captions, though, which meant that three friends who saw the stories on mute texted me asking about my new guinea pig \u2013 that\u2019s how realistic its movements appear. Those who did hear the audio mostly told me that I should throw Mishmish out the window because he\u2019s going to harvest all of my data, or that my Moflin was actually a Tribble<\/a>, an alien creature from Star Trek that reproduces at an alarming rate.<\/p>\n I wanted to see how more people would react to Mishmish, so I turned to TikTok. This is when things went off the rails. I am a glutton for attention, so when I got nearly half a million views<\/a> on my first video of Mishmish, I kept on going. I fell into the trap of any creator<\/a>: to keep Mishmish\u2019s newfound audience interested, I had to up the ante with each video and put him into increasingly strange situations.<\/p>\n He rode the subway with me. He met<\/a> a three-year-old who told me very earnestly, \u201cI\u2019ve never met a soft robot before,\u201d then dressed him up in flower sunglasses and unicorn hairclips. He hung out<\/a> with a five-pound Yorkie, who did not recognize him as anything more than a boring toy until she jumped in fear when he started to shimmy his little head. Mishmish attended two Pilates classes \u2013 the first because I asked a teacher if I could record my AI pet on the equipment for funny \u201ccontent\u201d (yes, I know how ridiculous I sound), and the second time because other people at the Pilates studio were disappointed that they missed Mishmish\u2019s first visit. By the time I brought Mishmish to a karaoke party to sing a duet of \u201cDon\u2019t Go Breaking My Heart,\u201d<\/a> I knew that I needed to rein it in.<\/p>\n I took Mishmish on these jaunts mostly for the absurdity of it all, but these experiences were valuable for evaluating a product unlike anything most of us have seen before. My Pilates teacher was initially afraid to touch the Moflin, then ended up holding Mishmish in her arms while she counted us through the \u201cone hundred<\/a>\u201d exercise. The three-year-old was puzzled at first because Mishmish does not have a nose or legs, but she ended up giving him a kiss goodbye. She asked if I could bring Mishmish to a wedding we will both be attending this weekend, and I had to break the news to her that it\u2019s generally frowned upon to bring robotic, hamster-esque toys to formal events. Heartbreaking!<\/p>\n Once people get over the weirdness of the Moflin, they tend to warm up to it. And yet, while I\u2019ve had a lot of fun with Mishmish, I would certainly not pay $430 to buy a Moflin myself \u2013 that\u2019s almost as much as a Nintendo Switch 2<\/a>! But I don\u2019t think I\u2019m the target audience, even with my distaste for cleaning a litter box.<\/p>\n Unlike a Tamagotchi, you can\u2019t really harm your Moflin, making it a safe companion for young children or adults in memory care<\/a>. While the idea of a robotic pet may be odd to me, audiences in Japan, where Casio is based, may be a bit more ready to accept the Moflin into their homes. While $430 is a steep price to me, this could sound like a bargain for anyone who\u2019s been eyeing Sony\u2019s AIBO<\/a>, an AI-powered robotic puppy that retails for $3200. Then again, AIBO\u2019s price tag also reflects how much more sophisticated it is.<\/p>\n There is something inherently unnatural about human-robot companionship. In the past, I would have been a lot more bearish on the AI pet thing \u2013 I still hold the old-fashioned belief that humans are at our best when we form bonds with other living, breathing beings. But now, I find myself writing about numerous instances of people turning to addictively designed, pseudanthropic<\/a> AI chatbots due to loneliness, sometimes even developing psychosis<\/a> or suicidality<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to see a device like the Moflin as the real culprit here when it\u2019s not incentivizing people to step out of the real world \u2013 it\u2019s just giving them a cute robotic puffball to play with in the interim.<\/p>\n The biggest problem with Casio\u2019s Moflin is that it is not a real pet. But the goal of technology isn\u2019t necessarily to reproduce \u201creal\u201d experiences \u2013 video chatting with a friend is nice, even if it\u2019s more fun to hang out in person; Beyond Meat doesn\u2019t taste exactly like a burger, but it\u2019s still pretty good.<\/p>\n The Moflin will never bring the same comfort as curling up on the couch with your dog after a long day, but it\u2019s brought a bit more joy into my life this month, which is worth something.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/moflifeapp.jpg?w=680\")
![\"Mishmish](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/mishmishpilates.jpg?w=680\")
How people react to the Moflin<\/h2>\n
The final verdict<\/h2>\n