AI kids books are 'slop' — but grandparents keep buying them
platforms like childbook.ai are flooding homes with ai-generated storybooks featuring real kids' photos, but parents report the stories are so boring children prefer standard titles.
a growing market of platforms including childbook.ai and storywonderbook allows users to create custom children's books featuring ai-generated images of specific children. parents report receiving these unwanted gifts from relatives, describing the stories as boring and technically flawed compared to established literature. macquarie university fellow daozhi xu argues that personalization does not equal engagement and that ai books frequently lack the dramatic tension and humor children crave. this trend coincides with declining literacy rates and a drop in parents reading aloud to children.