Have you ever feared that the memory of someone you loved is forgotten? Have you ever felt the heartache of being forgotten by those you love? Imagine returning home after a long time away, only to realise that your young nieces and nephews no longer recognise you. This was my reality, and it sparked a journey that led to the creation of Kinity—a way to share the precious stories that connect us across generations.
It may seem drastic to start a company based on a personal experience. How do I know that others relate to the same issue? And how did it all start?
The Beginning
I won't bore you with my entire personal story, but a key part to know about me is that I moved to London from Germany in September 2017. What was meant to be a one-year stay has extended into almost seven years at the time of writing this. We all have shared an experience since then: The Coronavirus Pandemic. Due to various restrictions, I couldn't go home for 18 months.
The Challenge
Life goes on, and when I did see my family again, it was painful to experience how my seven nieces and nephews, all born between 2012 and 2021, related to me—or more precisely, did not relate to me anymore. While some showered me with suffocating hugs, others saw me as a stranger. Their ages and the memories they had of me prior to my long absence played a role. What I realised, though, is that the stories my siblings shared about me with their children built a connection despite my absence. People connect through stories.
“People connect through stories.”
Integrating stories about family members into daily life with small children is challenging even at the best of times. Minds are busy with work, household chores, and many other things I am yet to experience. Spending time with my family opened my eyes to another thought: bedtime reading is story time.
The Turning Point
While those thoughts lingered, my family experienced the sudden loss of my dad in December 2021, just before Christmas. My thoughts turned from connecting family members through stories to a related but different concern: How can we ensure that family members aren't forgotten by the next generation when children didn't have a chance to make memories with them? Do we have to accept that we will all be forgotten at some point, that our legacies get lost, that we don't know who came before us?
Think about it. How many stories about past generations do you know? If we are lucky, there may be black-and-white photographs we occasionally look at to find resemblances with ourselves. But too often, the stories are lost in time.
“How can we keep memories alive?”
The Solution
So, the idea for Kinity was born—creating personalised children's books based on family stories and photos. Having a printed book about family members—whether they live too far away for regular contact or came before us—can help children learn about their roots and provide an easy way for parents to share stories.
The Confrontation
There is a problem, though. Not all of us are blessed storytellers, writers, and illustrators capable of creating children's books based on our family stories. The process of manually creating bespoke books is very time-intensive and costly, making it inaccessible for most families.
However, another development in recent years is the widespread use of AI to aid in writing and image generation. This brings its own set of concerns:
- Displacing Jobs: If we use AI to create illustrations for children's books, are we displacing jobs for children's book authors and illustrators?
- Privacy: The more personal we want to make these stories, the more personal data needs to be shared. How do we ensure that personal data is protected and used ethically?
- Bias: Given biased datasets in AI training, how can it respect and accurately represent diverse cultures, traditions, and family dynamics?
- Authenticity: Would using AI overlook the nuances and authenticity of family stories, leading to inaccuracies that affect the storytelling's emotional and cultural integrity?
- Environmental Impact: How do we justify using AI models, given their significant computational resources and high energy consumption, which negatively impact the environment?
The Resolution
Let's unpack how I think it is possible to overcome these challenges.
“How can we make the use of AI ethical?”
Personalised children's books are not for the mass market like traditional children's books. They are for individual families to share their stories with their children. These stories wouldn't otherwise be captured in illustrated children's books because creating one-of-a-kind books is too costly for ordinary families. With Kinity, I am not taking away jobs but creating new opportunities. Moreover, I am working with illustrators to integrate them into the value chain. If you are an illustrator and curious to learn more, please contact [email protected].
Creating personalised stories based on your family memories can bring immense joy and a deep sense of connection. However, I understand that sharing personal data to craft these unique narratives may raise concerns about privacy and data security. I want to assure you that protecting your personal information is equally important to me.
Using AI to create personalised family stories presents unique challenges, particularly in ensuring that the AI respects and accurately represents diverse cultures, traditions, and family dynamics. One significant concern is that AI systems, if trained on biased datasets, might overlook the nuances and authenticity of your family stories, potentially leading to inaccuracies that affect the storytelling's emotional and cultural integrity. I want to assure you that I am aware of these risks and committed to addressing them through rigorous research and development (R&D) and comprehensive testing. If you would like to join the user feedback group, please contact [email protected].
Large computational resources and high energy consumption have gone into creating AI models, some of which we build on. While I cannot change this, I am committed to sustainable practices and envision many projects to ensure that Kinity is carbon negative and creates social value.
Not the End
Our family stories are the threads that weave the fabric of our identities, connecting us to our roots and to each other. With Kinity, we have the chance to pass these precious memories down through beautifully crafted, personalised children's books.
Imagine your child drifting off to sleep while listening to tales of their grandparents' adventures or laughing at the funny anecdotes about their aunts and uncles. These are the moments that build lasting bonds and keep our family legacies alive.
I invite you to join me on this journey. Over the next few months, I will continue blogging about family stories and storytelling, so please stay tuned! If you have any questions, want to share your own family stories, or are interested in joining our user feedback group, please get in touch at [email protected]. Let's connect on Instagram, and for regular updates, consider subscribing to our newsletter.
Together, we can ensure that our stories are never forgotten and that future generations grow up knowing where they came from and who their family is. Let's make storytelling a cherished tradition once again.
