Meta tests StoryKit, an AI storytelling app that generates bedtime stories for exhausted parents

Meta is testing an AI bedtime story app for people with no imagination

Meta is working on an AI storytelling app called StoryKit, which creates AI-generated children's stories with custom characters, settings, lessons, and music. As the App Store listing assures parents, "You don't need to write a single word." At last, a tech company has found a way to outsource humanity's oldest pastime: using our imaginations. StoryKit was first spotted in the App Store by 9to5Mac. Meta confirmed to TechCrunch that the company is piloting StoryKit in select countries to see how parents like it. A Meta spokesperson described StoryKit as a creative storytelling app used to craft personalized, imaginative storybooks for their children and noted that it uses AI safety filters with no social features and is only available to users over the age of 18. To generate a story in the app, you first select a character, which you can create by "[snapping] a photo of their favorite toy or person to bring them to life," according to the description in the App Store. Then, you describe the world of your story and choose a lesson, so that you can "weave in values like kindness, courage, or empathy without it feeling like a lecture." The good news about StoryKit is that it could be a lot worse. Meta regularly ships boneheaded ideas like Instagram deepfake generators and "pervert glasses." Comparatively, is it so bad to doom children to soulless bedtime stories? Should we have expected anything better from the company that promised us a utopian world of virtual reality work meetings? Humans have their faults, but if we're good at anything, it's making stuff up. We've been telling stories for as long as we've existed. We don't even have to spin up original tales of fairy princesses and dragon slayers. We have always drawn from mythology, fables, and other stories -- the blockbuster movie of the summer is literally an ancient myth that orginated from this same tradition of oral storytelling. Parents lead exhausting, busy lives, but it has always been possible to survive bedtime without using an inherently uncreative technology that calculates the most predictable response to a prompt. You could see how it might be tempting to pull up StoryKit when your kid rejects your bookcase full of children's books and demands that you improvise an intergalactic tale about a turtle and a hedgehog who are best friends and solve space mysteries. But do we really want to reject a chance at whimsy and silliness and instead outsource these moments of connection to reading AI-generated scripts from our smartphones? Perhaps the moral of the story here is that we can choose not to live in a world where children are raised on bedtime stories written by large language models. Meta's vision of the future may be antisocial and bleak, but we have the power to reject that reality.

Meta Working on Crushingly Sad AI App That Tells Bedtime Stories to Children, for "Tired" Parents

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Meta is testing an app that uses AI to automate bedtime stories for children. The future is here, folks -- and boy, is it depressing. The app, first caught by 9to5Mac, is called "StoryKit." (It's not yet available in the US; Meta confirmed to TechCrunch that it's currently testing StoryKit in pilot countries.) Per a webpage for the app, parents pick a character either by creating one or taking a "photo of their favorite toy or person to bring them to life," then describe a setting or world for the story to take place in. They can also ask the story to include a specific lesson or moral, which the app says will allow it to "weave in values like kindness, courage, or empathy without it feeling like a lecture." The resulting story can be read aloud by a human -- or, of course, an AI voice can narrate instead. According to Meta, this is a lifeline for exhausted parents. "Tired after a long day but want to give your kids a special bedtime story?" reads the app's webpage. "StoryKit uses Al to help you create personalized bedtime stories in seconds. No more guilt about screen time. Just beautiful, unique stories made with love." Let's be real: this app is amazingly sad. There are a lot of busy and exhausted parents, but outsourcing the emotional and creative labor of bedtime stories to machines is a wildly bleak proposition. Meta claims that this app will help parents feel less guilty about their kids' screen time, but is having an AI voice read an AI-generated bedtime story to your kids that much different from plopping them in front of an iPad? There are also countless human-written children's books out there to choose from, if parents don't enjoy coming up with stories with their kids on the spot. If you're feeling guilty about screens, perhaps the answer is paper-bound books, not robots. All in all: kids' bedtime stories -- bonding moments between parents and their children, in which parents can foster creativity and impart what they believe to be important lessons -- aren't exactly spaces begging for tech disruption. In fact, this is an area where we probably need less tech, not more.

Suck at bedtime stories? Meta has an AI to tuck kids in

Bedtime storytelling is the next job AI is taking away from us. Bedtime improvisation can demand an unreasonable amount of creativity from a parent who is just trying to get their overstimulated child to go to sleep. Meta might have a solution to this. Using AI, the company wants to take over the tales of dragons, enchanted forests, and conveniently timed lessons about sharing. The company is testing StoryKit, a free iPhone app that generates personalized children's stories using AI. Meta confirmed that it is piloting the app in select countries to gauge parents' interest, with availability currently including Mexico and excluding the United States. A broader release date has yet to be announced. Turn your child or their toy into the hero StoryKit begins by asking the parent to create a character. Users can describe one manually or photograph a child, person, or favorite toy and allow AI to recreate it inside the story. Parents then choose a setting, such as an enchanted forest, distant galaxy, or underwater world, and select a lesson involving values like courage, kindness, or empathy. It generates the writing alongside AI illustrations, narration, and even accompanying music. The completed story can become a narrated picture book, an audiobook for hands-free listening, a read-aloud script for the parent, or a printable PDF. Saved books remain inside a private library, and downloaded stories work offline. Meta says the app has no advertising, in-app purchases, or social features. Recommended Videos The completed story can become a narrated picture book, an audiobook for hands-free listening, a read-aloud script for the parent, or a printable PDF. Saved books remain inside a private library, and downloaded stories work offline. Meta says the app has no advertising, in-app purchases, or social features. The concept has a genuinely useful side. An exhausted parent can quickly build a story around a child's latest obsession, while the printable and read-aloud formats keep the parent involved rather than leaving a phone to run bedtime alone. But this does raise a few worrying questions. Handing Meta a child's photo doesn't seem like a great idea Meta says StoryKit includes AI content filters, safety guardrails, and PIN protection. The company also told TechCrunch that the app is intended for users over 18, despite its stories naturally being aimed at young children. Parents should still inspect the privacy details before uploading family photos. Apple's listing says StoryKit may collect photos, videos, and other kinds of details that seem a bit invasive at first glance. AI-powered children's products have previously raised concerns around inappropriate outputs, data collection, and systems designed for adults appearing inside toys. StoryKit's parent-controlled structure and lack of social features address some of those risks. So while it can help rescue tired parents, it takes away the personal rituals that involve ever-evolving stories and imagination from the parent or child.