My Little Stories: How We Built One of the World's First AI Storytelling Apps in 2022
Own Product · 2022
One of the World's First AI Storytellers
In March 2022 — months before AI became a mainstream topic — we launched My Little Stories. An app that delivered personalized, interactive stories to children with AI-generated images that adapted in real time to the reader. The result: 100,000 users in under 10 months.
The Challenge
Books are expensive. Libraries aren't accessible to everyone. And traditional children's books tell the same story every time — regardless of who's reading. We wanted to change that.
In early 2022, AI wasn't mainstream. ChatGPT didn't exist in the form we know today. But the models were good enough to build something that had simply been impossible before: a story that adapts in real time to the child — their name, favorite themes, and the characters they created themselves.
The opportunity was clear. The question was whether we could build fast enough to seize it.
What Made My Little Stories Special
Custom Characters
Children could create characters — friends, siblings, pets — who then appeared in the story. The AI wove them into the narrative dynamically.
AI-Generated Images
Every story had images that adapted dynamically to the reader's inputs. No two children saw the exact same story — that was state-of-the-art in 2022.
Curriculum-Aligned Learning
Math stories, history, science — school curriculum content embedded in compelling adventures. Developed with feedback from local primary school teachers.
AI-generated characters from My Little Stories — themes like magic, knights and adventure
What We Built
We started in March 2022 with a web app, gathered early user data and feedback — and launched the mobile app by May 2022. The entire stack was built for scale from day one.
⚙️ Backend
- → PHP Symfony
- → REST API for web & mobile
- → AI integration for story generation
- → Dynamic AI image generation per reader
📱 Frontend & Mobile
- → React Native (iOS & Android)
- → Web app (React)
- → Character builder with live preview
- → Themes: Magic, Pirates, Knights, Robots
☁️ Infrastructure
- → OVH Managed Kubernetes Cluster
- → Scalable to 1,000+ new users/day
- → Automated deployment pipeline
💼 Business Model
- → Freemium: selection of free stories
- → In-app purchase for additional story packs
- → User research with primary school teachers
From Idea to 100,000 Users
Web App Launch
First version released — interactive AI stories in the browser.
Mobile App
iOS & Android app live. Mobile immediately becomes the primary channel.
Learning Features
Math, history and science stories added. Feedback from primary school teachers incorporated.
100,000 Users
The app reaches 100,000 registered users — with up to 1,000 new ones daily.
A Deliberate Decision
OpenAI becomes free for end users. We shut down the app — we didn't want to charge for something people could get elsewhere for free.
Why We Shut It Down
In early 2023, OpenAI became free for end users. Not the API — but the interface. Children and parents suddenly had a free alternative right in their browser.
We could have kept pushing. But we didn't want to charge for something users could get elsewhere for free. That was a conscious decision — and the right one.
My Little Stories taught us how to build AI products that people actually use. How to launch fast, iterate, and scale. And how to design a technical architecture that handles 1,000 new users per day without breaking a sweat.
What This Means for Your Project
My Little Stories wasn't a client project. It was our own product — and that's exactly why it shows what we're capable of when we take full ownership.
Not just writing code, but also driving user research, iteration and business model thinking.
Web app in March, mobile in May — working product in weeks, not quarters.
Kubernetes, clean API architecture, CI/CD — production-ready from day one.
