--- title: "Meta Working on Crushingly Sad AI App That Tells Bedtime Stories to Children, for “Tired” Parents" description: "Meta is testing an app called \"StoryKit\" that uses AI to automate bedtime stories for children. It's billed as a lifeline for tired parents." date: "2026-07-25" modified: "2026-07-25" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-sad-ai-app-stories-children" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Meta" --- # Meta Working on Crushingly Sad AI App That Tells Bedtime Stories to Children, for “Tired” Parents ![A photo illustration featuring a robot reading from a book in its lap.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Vasilyev Alexandr / Shutterstock* 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. **More on kids and AI:** *[The Proliferation of Deepfakes Is Profoundly Changing the Way Teenagers Use the Internet]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()