a bedtime story is more powerful than you know
According to The National Literacy Trust, a parent reading to their child determines future success more than family size, parental education or social class. The more stories a child hears, the greater their vocabulary, the more empathy they develop and the better equipped they are to handle life. But what if a child’s parent hasn't learned to read?
On behalf of ProLiteracy, a nonprofit organization teaching adults to read and write, we helped Felicia, a ProLiteracy student, become the world’s first illiterate mother to share a bedtime story with her kids.
2X WEBBY WINS: Best Art Direction (AI, Metaverse & Virtual) and Accessible Technology (Websites and Mobile Sites)
THE FILM
Though voice cloning tech has been around for years, it’s never been used to uplift the illiterate community. With this AI tool, Felicia, a ProLiteracy student, became the first illiterate parent to share a bedtime story with their kids making an otherwise impossible bedtime story possible.
First we recorded Felicia telling her life story, where she delved into obstacles to learning to read and write. Then we matched Felicia’s audio with the audio of volunteers reading children’s books, which were used to train our AI model on the tone and rhythm of reading to a child. Finally, we used AI to recreate Felicia’s voice reciting those books for her kids to hear. Using Felicia’s story to help her tell stories on her own. We documented the experience in a short film shared during International Literacy Day to remind the world just how important a story can be.
