Storytelling is one of humanity’s oldest tools. Through stories, we structure experience, transmit values, imagine futures, and make sense of the world. For children, stories are simulations of the world. A place to safely explore questions of right and wrong, cause and consequence, self and other. However, children’s early learning environments are increasingly mediated by screens and pre-recorded content, which often position them as passive recipients rather than active creators.
Geni is an audio storytelling platform that leverages generative AI to empower children to follow their curiosity and create their own stories. Rather than following fixed scripts or predetermined endings, Geni combines physical tokens with a generative story engine to allow children to construct characters, explore ideas, and experiment with new possibilities. Each play session generates something new, such as a shift in plot, a twist in perspective, or an unexpected resolution, helping children play and learn from a rich and complex human world. Just as clay or blocks allow children to externalize thought in form and structure, Geni allows them to externalize thought in narrative. In this way, stories become a construction kit for meaning.
