Stories have existed for as long as humans have. Without humans, there wouldn’t be a single story, because we have always been the storytellers. But that may be about to change. Has a second storyteller been born? At least for now, it seems so. Meta has recently been spotted quietly testing a new iPhone app that uses AI to generate personalised children’s stories. Where human stories come from imagination, Meta’s AI-generated stories reportedly come complete with illustrations, narration, and music. The app is called StoryKit: personalised stories.
The app was first spotted by 9to5Mac and is available in limited regions. Currently, it is live in Mexico but not in the US. This suggests that Meta is testing the concept regionally before deciding whether to expand it further.
Meta also confirmed the app’s existence to TechCrunch, with a company spokesperson describing StoryKit as a creative storytelling app for crafting personalised, imaginative storybooks for children. The spokesperson also noted that the app uses AI safety filters, has no social features, and is only available to users over the age of 18. This could mean it is designed for parents to use on behalf of their children rather than for kids to use directly.
Key Insights & Highlights
Creating a story on the app involves three simple choices. Users start by creating a character, which can be done by taking a photo of a child’s favourite toy or person to “bring them to life,” according to the app’s description. Next, users pick a setting, such as an enchanted forest or a distant galaxy, and finally choose a lesson built around values like kindness, courage, or empathy, letting the app “weave in values without it feeling like a lecture.”
Once those choices are made, StoryKit can generate the story in several formats. There’s a Picture Book format with illustrated pages, narration, and a musical score, an Audiobook version for hands-free listening during car rides or bedtime, a Read Aloud mode that displays the full text so a parent can narrate it themselves, and a Printable PDF that can be turned into a physical keepsake.
StoryKit fits into Meta’s larger push into AI beyond its conventional chatbot offerings. Earlier this year, the company replaced its Llama models with Muse Spark, the first model to come out of Meta Superintelligence Labs. Since then, Muse Spark has powered new features across Meta’s standalone Meta AI app, as well as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and Threads. StoryKit appears to be another experiment in that same direction, testing whether AI-generated storytelling has a place among parents before any wider rollout.
Now, the last question that remains is whether a soulless AI’s large language model can truly replace human imagination. That is something only time will tell.