The AI generated images of kids in the "Community Creations" section is a little bit weird... might be better to keep the kids more cartoony like the main image (Pixar-style - though obviously be careful of Copyright there).
Haven't played much with the other generation tools, but it's genuinely a cool idea and one I've thought of creating myself as a dad to a 2.5 year old.
Decades to centuries of phenomenal, thoughtful, unique, creative kids stories that can be curated to introduce whole worlds of ideas. And you want to replace it with cookie-cutter AI slop and give them the world's worst case of Main Character Syndrome, how utterly depressing.
This is so bleak. You’re introducing 4-year-olds to machine-generated garbage and teaching them it’s normal before they even have a fighting chance to develop literacy and taste.
This makes me think about "main character energy."
Now that i'm an uncle, I see firsthand how much the little ones love to see themselves. They always want to play with my phone to make silly videos, of mostly themselves. it is creative though, and not always all about them. (it's mostly about them). they do stop-motion with little figurines and legos, now i love those!
Anyway, sorry you're just the messenger of all this, but i can't help but think we probably shouldn't reinforce an entire reality that is literally always them being the main character. Given it happens naturally in this digital age, I'd probably go out of my way to balance it vs drive it home 100x
Honest feedback time. I've seen at least a half a dozen of these AI Bedtime story teller programs on HN in the past year. (probably since the days when DALL-3 was launched).
This one suffers from the same image and curation related issues as all the other ones. (though I will profess I smirked at the unintentionally amusing inadvertent generation of a three legged white rabbit on page 2)
This is so dystopian. I've been buying paper books for years so that my future kids will have something to hold onto.
I'm really hoping I will have the patience to discuss with them and pay attention to their imagination and not numb them down with this crap. Sorry for being harsh. This just made me sad and angry.
I wasn't gonna say anything that other commenters didn't say, but then it occurred to me, how paradoxical this actually is: I'm less disgusted by the prospect that OP might be just random shill trying to sell yet another random slop generator solely in attempt to make some profit, than that he might be... well, sincere.
I hate to pile on the criticism here but this gives me uneasy futuristic vibes.
My dad recently passed away but some of the sweetest things we remember as kids was how he would always tell us "make up stories." They were silly little stories that were probably lame, but we could feel his love for us as he took the time to spin up some silly little story. I would never trade that for the best LLM creativity.
I'd get it if we lacked unique books, but... a local library likely has more than you could ever read. And even if you don't have one, there are online libraries to use. The generated stories are not close to the same quality. Why go for a "book-like" experience rather than actual books?
> standard bedtime stories didn't always capture their unique imagination
If you really mean this, I invite you to reflect on whether the LLM generated stories will be any better. Good art including stories, even those for children, have the power to move people, and are so much more than what AI slop can offer.
Would you like to read some LLM generated novels before bedtime? If not, why not extend the same grace to your daughters?
As the father of a 2- and 4-year-old, this project is repulsive.
> Like many parents, I found that standard bedtime stories didn't always capture their unique imagination. So, I built Lyra Kids (https://lyra.kids) to turn our nightly ritual into something more magical.
We have the standard template product pitch here (“Unlike our competitors, our product does XYZ”) but turned against _the entirety of children’s literature_.
You really think that many parents find “standard bedtime stories” insufficient?
Look, we have a couple of those books that use your kid’s name and a custom illustration that resembles them. They’re about as sophisticated as a Hallmark card and equally unrewarding. The kids get a kick out of it, but it’s a rare amusement and not actual interest. You don’t talk about the plot or the characters of a Mad Lib.
I’ll set aside my moral outrage and assume that you wanted to build this project no matter what and backed into the product positioning later, because the alternative is too depressing to consider.
I’m sure I’ll get flak for this but I’m sorry we can argue about AI all day and there’s a lot of stuff that’s being built and is genuinely depressing but this takes the cake. There’s few memories I cherish more of childhood than being read The Hobbit at the age of your children. The best part was my dad would slip in nonsense sentences when it seemed like I was drifting off. “And then Roxolotl hops out and grabs the ring!” We’d then play off of each other creating a brief fork in the story. I’d strongly encourage you to just talk to your children. You’d be amazed how good they are at coming up with stories on their own and it’s an incredible way to bond.
36 comments
[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 56.2 ms ] threadI've done the AI books for my kids but putting effort into making them personal and interesting has been the main point.
Haven't played much with the other generation tools, but it's genuinely a cool idea and one I've thought of creating myself as a dad to a 2.5 year old.
Maybe this is all fine but it would definitely make me less likely to use this. And I can think of many ways it could go wrong...
Now that i'm an uncle, I see firsthand how much the little ones love to see themselves. They always want to play with my phone to make silly videos, of mostly themselves. it is creative though, and not always all about them. (it's mostly about them). they do stop-motion with little figurines and legos, now i love those!
Anyway, sorry you're just the messenger of all this, but i can't help but think we probably shouldn't reinforce an entire reality that is literally always them being the main character. Given it happens naturally in this digital age, I'd probably go out of my way to balance it vs drive it home 100x
This one suffers from the same image and curation related issues as all the other ones. (though I will profess I smirked at the unintentionally amusing inadvertent generation of a three legged white rabbit on page 2)
https://lyra.kids/stories/alices-wild-wonderland-adventure
Show HN: AI Storyteller
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42280345
Show HN: Kids Tell Tales – interactive bedtime stories for your kids with AI
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42585311
Show HN: Storyteller – AI Assisted Book Writer and Illustrator
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34710023
Show HN: AI-powered storytelling coach for kids
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061470
Show HN: Adel – AI Powered Storytelling
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38012238
Show HN: StoryStory – AI-generated illustrated and narrated children's stories
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46024743
I'm really hoping I will have the patience to discuss with them and pay attention to their imagination and not numb them down with this crap. Sorry for being harsh. This just made me sad and angry.
My dad recently passed away but some of the sweetest things we remember as kids was how he would always tell us "make up stories." They were silly little stories that were probably lame, but we could feel his love for us as he took the time to spin up some silly little story. I would never trade that for the best LLM creativity.
If you really mean this, I invite you to reflect on whether the LLM generated stories will be any better. Good art including stories, even those for children, have the power to move people, and are so much more than what AI slop can offer.
Would you like to read some LLM generated novels before bedtime? If not, why not extend the same grace to your daughters?
> Like many parents, I found that standard bedtime stories didn't always capture their unique imagination. So, I built Lyra Kids (https://lyra.kids) to turn our nightly ritual into something more magical.
We have the standard template product pitch here (“Unlike our competitors, our product does XYZ”) but turned against _the entirety of children’s literature_.
You really think that many parents find “standard bedtime stories” insufficient?
Look, we have a couple of those books that use your kid’s name and a custom illustration that resembles them. They’re about as sophisticated as a Hallmark card and equally unrewarding. The kids get a kick out of it, but it’s a rare amusement and not actual interest. You don’t talk about the plot or the characters of a Mad Lib.
I’ll set aside my moral outrage and assume that you wanted to build this project no matter what and backed into the product positioning later, because the alternative is too depressing to consider.