As ChatGPT explores new applications, certain developers have designed AI-driven models that narrate bedtime tales to children, tailored to their beloved characters.
Yet, this development has prompted legal and ethical questions. For instance, a story generator named Bluey-GPT initiates each interaction by inquiring about the child’s name, age, and daily experiences before crafting individualized stories featuring Bluey and her sister, Bingo.
“It names her school, the area she lives in, and talks about the fact it’s cold outside. It makes it more real and engaging,” its London-based developer Luke Warner told Wired.
Using ChatGPT, individuals can create custom stories featuring their child alongside a preferred character.
Apps like Oscar, Once Upon a Bot, and Bedtimestory.ai utilize general characters or those available in the public domain. Several of these apps offer AI-created visuals or the capability to listen to the story being narrated.
However, “the stories churned out by AI aren’t anywhere as good as the show itself, and raise legal and ethical concerns,” the report noted.
“In the UK, the legal protections for characters include names as well as backstory, mannerisms, and expressions,” according to Xuyang Zhu, a lawyer at the firm Taylor Wessing.
“That copyright can be infringed if a character is replicated in another context in a way that reproduces enough of these aspects,” Zhu was quoted as saying in the report.
Experts suggest that GPTs tailored to specific characters present more trademark challenges than copyright issues. Applications like Oscar, Once Upon a Bot, and Bedtimestory.ai feature general characters or those freely available in the public domain.
Several of these applications offer AI-crafted visuals or the feature to listen to the story being narrated.
Another concern with bots that create stories for kids is “making sure what they churn out is actually safe for children.”
