ItThe AI reading companion designed to support children with reading difficulties launched a brand new product on Monday that permits children to take part in the story creation process.
The latest AI-powered feature called Storytime helps kids create personalized stories by selecting from a collection of settings, characters and storylines. For example, a story a couple of hamster named Greg who performed at a talent show in space.
Kids can select from dozens of prompts, leading to 1000’s of mixtures.
As with Ello's regular reading offering, the AI companion – a vivid blue, friendly elephant – listens to the kid as he reads and evaluates his speech to correct mispronunciations and missing words. If kids aren't sure learn how to pronounce a selected word, they will tap the query mark icon for extra help.
Storytime offers two reading options: a mode through which Ello and the reader take turns, and one other, easier mode for younger readers, through which Ello does a lot of the reading.
AI-powered creation of stories for kids isn’t a brand new concept. In 2022, Amazon launched its own AI tool that generates animated stories for kids based on various themes and locations, equivalent to underwater adventures or enchanted forests. Other startups, like Scarlet panda And Story SparkThey too have joined this trend.
However, Ello believes what sets its Storytime offering apart is its proprietary, advanced AI system that adapts to a baby's responses and teaches critical reading skills using phonics-based strategies. The company claims its technology outperforms OpenAI's Whisper and Google Cloud's Voice API.
Additionally, the Storytime experience is tailored to the user's reading level in addition to the weekly lesson. For example, this week when Ello helps a primary grader practice his “ch” sound, the AI creates a story that strategically incorporates the words “chair” and “cheer.”
Ello said the engineering team implemented safety measures to make sure the stories were suitable for kids. The company tested the product with teachers, children and reading specialists for several months. In the primary version, children can only select from a predetermined set of story options. However, the corporate envisions a future version that involves children much more in the method.
“When a teacher develops an open-ended story with a baby, they supply the (constructing blocks) through interactive dialogue. So I imagine it might look very similar,” Ello co-founder and CTO Catalin Voss told TechCrunch. “Children prefer guardrails at some level. It's the blank paper problem. You ask a five-year-old, ‘What’s the story about?’ And they’re type of overwhelmed.”
In addition to Storytime, the corporate also launched its iOS app just a few months ago expanded the reach of its AI reading trainer to much more users. Previously it was limited to tablets, including iPads. Android tablets and Amazon.
With over 700,000 books read and tens of 1000’s of families served, Ello costs $14.99/month. Meanwhile, families receiving government assistance can access it for just $2.99/month. Ello also works with low-income schools to supply the subscription at no additional cost.
Additionally, Ello recently put its library of decipherable children's books online free of charge.
