[POPOSYS]

Sorry, but the story is missing a very important ingredient for a kids book: I can not identify any deeper moral or social or any idea.

While stories "just for fun" have of course a right to exist, it is very questionable to fill your kids brain solely with random, empty, meaningless fun stories.

Stories for kids are an important part of helping to build a moral compass for the world. Besides "getting rich quick with fun products" I see no value transported in that story.

Empty stories will produce empty humans.

There is more to a good story than "something happens" and "nice pictures".

[mmustapic]

Children learn much more than morals when they are small. Even "nothing happens" stories have some value for them, they teach them other normal things (bread making?), or trigger some thoughts (you need to investigate sometimes). The problem with this story is that it's stupid, there's no explanation for the fairy's behaviour, and the butter park doesn't make sense.

[stagas]

It's a lesson that stuff happen, then other stuff follow, wait for those. Turns out, it's just more stuff. And it's ok to be this way. I'd say it's a lesson in Zen.

[klondike_klive]

Kids absorb all sorts of lessons parallel/orthogonal to and sometimes completely opposite to the ones intended by the committee of creators, like "I'm being palmed off with garbage", "I'm being subtly coerced by forces I don't quite understand."

[jamessb]

> I can not identify any deeper moral or social or any idea.

The fairy destroys the bread that Penelope has created by turning it into butter. The fairy then expresses remorse, apologises, and offers to undo this ("Sparkles was sorry for her mischief, and offered to help Penelope turn the butter back into bread"). Penelope accepts the apology, and they set aside their differences to engage in a joint venture together.

Arguably this isn't a good expression of a moral lesson, but there are moral themes here (destroying what other people have worked hard to create is bad; apologising and offering to fix your mistakes is good, forgiveness is better than holding a grudge).

[stagas]

Sometimes a story is just something happens and nice pictures. Not every story needs to be indoctrinating specific arbitrary morals that humans like to impose on others. Let a story be in itself just a story of some thing and which no big deal happens. Most of life is like that, and should be enjoyed that way. There's the moral story you asked for.

[whateveracct]

of course it is empty and has no moral

It was made with AI art and AI text. To do so fundamentally treats creativity as a cost center and this is the result.

[weird-eye-issue]

Eh, it isn't the AI's fault...

This is the plot he used to feed the AI: "Once upon a time there was porcupine. Every day, she baked a loaf of bread. One day the loaf disappeared. Because of that, she had too much butter. Because of that, things got slippery. Until finally she opened the first ever butter theme park."

I can bet you that if you specifically asked the AI to include some morals it would do so

In fact I'll show you.

Input: what are some values that could be included in a children's book with the following plot: Once upon a time there was porcupine. Every day, she baked a loaf of bread. One day the loaf disappeared. Because of that, she had too much butter. Because of that, things got slippery. Until finally she opened the first ever butter theme park.

Output:

Some values that could be included in a children's book with this plot could include:

Perseverance: The porcupine continues to bake bread even after it goes missing, and she uses her excess butter to create something new and exciting.

Creativity: The porcupine comes up with the idea for a butter theme park, showing that it's possible to turn a problem into an opportunity.

Resourcefulness: The porcupine uses her excess butter to create something new and exciting, rather than letting it go to waste.

Entrepreneurship: The porcupine opens the first ever butter theme park, demonstrating the importance of taking initiative and starting one's own business.

[trompetenaccoun]

GPT-3 is great at giving generic advice, true. But that aside, it surprises me how uncritical HN seems to be when it comes to children's books. Sure, they may look simple at first glance but a lot of thought and work goes into good children's books and likewise children can get a lot out of them if they're done right.

It's not that the story necessarily has to have a moral, though many do. It's that they're funny and artful and witty. They can make kids think and dream and inspire them. Also a real quality kid's book doesn't just speak to children but humans in general. If you read it as an adult and think it's a boring story, it's not a good book for your child imo.

The linked butter story doesn't have any of this. It's grammatically correct and each sentence is somewhat related to the previous one but that's about all the positive I can find in it. It's completely meaningless.

[whateveracct]

AI art was born from VC technologists' disrespect for art. It's not surprising they don't respect children's book writing as an actual skill. Just a cost center to be automated.

This coming from a group who by and large probably hasn't written creatively in their entire lives.

[trompetenaccoun]

The thing is, the majority of users here aren't even VC technologists but simple coders and tech enthusiasts. Giving this sort of reading to your child seems like the nerd equivalent of parents that let their kids watch the Disney channel all day.

It's bad enough what media some adults consume but when it comes to children it's twice as concerning, because kids have a special ability to learn that is largely lost later in life. We're only young once, it's incomprehensible to me that someone would knowingly fill their child's brains with junk information.

[CatWChainsaw]

The slush piles will turn into slush planets once this kind of farce becomes a full-fledged fad.

[weird-eye-issue]

Just like how I could read a bunch of kid's books and learn to write new ones that are "funny and artful and witty", I am quite confident AI could as well.