Empirical insights into traditional and AI enhanced interactive narratives based on children’s fables

Aim/purpose – The study delves into the creation and the experience of interactive children’s narratives based on poetry, examining the emerging role of artificial intelli- gence (AI) as a collaborative partner in storytelling for children. The research questions are: 1) What are the experiences of readers, specifically children’s guardians, with inter- active narratives based on children’s poetry? ; 2) How do children’s guardians experience inter-active stories co-generated in real-time through conversations with artificial intelli- gence? ; 3) Is it feasible to create a satisfying narrative for children from a specific set of images through the use of AI technology? Design/methodology/approach – This paper synthesizes findings from the following studies: a) Qualitative analysis of interactive narratives based on Stanisław Jachowicz’s poems, involving a comprehensive online questionnaire survey, with 80 respondents participating in the latest study; b) An evaluative study focused on real-time interactions with AI-generated interactive narratives based on Stanisław Jachowicz’s poems. This involved 12 participants who provided detailed feedback on their experience; c) An autoethnographic study exploring the creative process of generating children’s narratives from a set of images using AI. Findings – The findings from the exploratory studies suggested that interactive narra- tives based on poetry would be beneficial for education and the promotion of reading. The interactive narrative can be simply designed (simple mechanics, simple options) and nevertheless, it can evoke a positive user experience. The constructs of telepresence and player agency apply not only to the interactive narrative and the poem that serves as its foundation. The evaluation of the interactive narrative generated by ChatGPT was posi- tive, both as real-time interactive storytelling experienced by the reader with AI and as the interactive narrative created based on a set of images. In the process of generating interactive narratives during real-time interactions, ensuring safety, reliability, and trust- worthiness for children is a crucial aspect. Research implications/limitations – The research suggests that educational organiza- tions can benefit from introducing interactive narratives based on poetry into children’s curricula. Furthermore, artificial intelligence can be effectively utilized in creating such content, both in the form of traditional interactive narratives presented to children and in real-time interactions with AI. However, it is also important for organizations to develop tools for monitoring children’s safety. Originality/value/contribution – This paper sheds light on the reader’s experience with interactive narratives based on poetry and highlights the transformative impact of AI on reading and writing in children’s literature, emphasizing how significantly the roles of writers and readers have changed with the introduction of AI. The swift evolution of artificial intelligence raises concerns that vital literary participants – including authors, researchers, publishers, and readers – may not grasp the essential skills and knowledge for utilizing AI. This paper can be helpful for these groups as it provides clues on how to produce good prompts, leading to the creation of children’s narratives. Keywords: art studies, Human-Centered AI, interactive narrative, game development, user experience. JEL Classification: Z11, L86, M31.