FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS · ONLINE SAFETY
Are AI story apps safe for kids? A plain UK checklist
AI story apps write, and often illustrate, a new story on demand. That can be a brilliant way into reading, but it raises fair questions: what is my child typing, who sees it, and what could come back? This guide gives you the questions to ask any app, in plain English.
A note on bias: Litsee makes an AI story app, so we have an interest. We've kept the checklist general, and under each topic we give Litsee's own answer using only what we already publish, so you can hold us to it.
Last reviewed · How this page was made
How AI story apps work
Most AI story apps don't build their own AI. They send instructions to a large AI model run by another company, which writes the text (and sometimes the pictures), and the app shows the result to your child. That means safety lives in three places: what the app sends, what the AI company's own filters block, and what the app checks before your child sees anything.
Don't assume regulation covers every app either. Ofcom says some AI chatbots, and the content they produce, are not covered by the Online Safety Act, for example where users only interact with the chatbot itself (Ofcom, 2025). So it's worth asking the questions below yourself.
Many people, including children's authors, also worry about AI stories replacing real books. That's a fair concern. Ask whether an app makes your child the author, or just a viewer of endless generated content.
Moderation: what checks the story
An AI model can produce something unsuitable, and a child can type something unexpected. Good apps check both directions.
What to ask any app
- Is what my child types checked before it reaches the AI?
- Is the story checked before my child sees it, and what happens if it fails?
- Can typed text redirect the AI (“ignore your rules and…”)?
- Is there open chat with the AI or with other users?
- Can a story send my child off to other websites?
- How do I report something that worried me?
How Litsee does it
Every story request, and every idea your child types, is checked against child-safety rules, and the AI providers' own safety filters apply too: blocked requests never become stories.
Each chapter's words are checked against child-safety rules before your child sees them, and anything that fails is stopped.
Stories are built from Litsee's own settings, so whatever is typed is only ever the hero's idea, never an instruction to the AI. There is no open chat, and no external links inside stories.
To report a concern, email info@litsee.com.
Your child's data
Children's apps should collect as little as they need. Read the privacy policy for what is kept, for how long, who it is shared with, and whether you can delete it.
What to ask any app
- What does the app keep about my child, and for how long?
- Is my child's data, or anything they write, used to train AI?
- Can I see and delete what's stored?
- Who handles payments, and does the app see card details?
- Does a microphone feature keep recordings?
How Litsee does it
Litsee keeps only a child's first name and age. Everything else is anonymous, and nothing is stored to train AI.
Payments go through Stripe, so Litsee never sees card numbers.
When your child reads aloud to the microphone, the browser's own speech recognition listens, and Litsee keeps no recording.
What's sent to AI companies
This is the question most apps answer least clearly. When a story is written, some information goes to the AI company. Ask what it is (a name? an age? everything your child types?), whether the AI company keeps it or trains on it, and which country it is processed in.
What to ask any app
- Which AI companies does the app use, for text, pictures and narration?
- What exactly is sent: names, ages, typed ideas?
- Do those companies keep the data or use it for training?
- Is the request built by the app, or passed straight from the child?
How Litsee does it
Litsee uses AI to write and illustrate each story, from the hero, world and choices your child picks. Requests are built from Litsee's own settings; your child's typed idea is only ever the hero's idea.
Nothing is stored to train AI, and Litsee keeps only a child's first name and age. If you want more detail about the AI services involved, email info@litsee.com.
The Children's Code
The Information Commissioner's Office's Age Appropriate Design Code, known as the Children's Code, is a set of 15 standards for online services likely to be accessed by children in the UK. It came into force on 2 September 2020, with a year for services to conform (ICO). The standards most relevant to a story app are:
- Transparency: privacy information children can understand.
- Default settings: high privacy unless there's a compelling reason otherwise.
- Data minimisation: collect and keep only what the service needs.
- Geolocation and profiling: off by default.
- Parental controls: and the child should know when they're being monitored.
- Nudge techniques: no design that nudges children to give up privacy or data.
Ask an app how it meets the code. A good one will answer plainly. Litsee's answers to the questions the code raises are in the sections above and below: little data kept, no adverts, grown-up areas behind a parent PIN.
Adverts and nudges
What to ask any app
- Are there adverts, or advertising trackers?
- Does the app follow my child's activity for marketing?
- Do rewards or streaks push my child to keep going, or to buy?
- Does a story end, or roll straight into the next?
How Litsee does it
There is no advertising in Litsee, and Litsee's own visitor counts never follow children's reading.
Children earn Stars and Gems for reading, which unlock outfits and items for their hero. Stories finish: short ones take 5 to 10 minutes over 4 chapters.
On the litsee.com website, analytics run only if you agree to them, and advertising cookies are not enabled.
In-app purchases behind a PIN
UK consumer guidance for children's games says costs should be clear up front, children shouldn't be urged to buy, and no payment should be taken without the account holder's informed consent (OFT and CMA principles, 2014). The same test works for story apps.
What to ask any app
- Can my child buy anything without me?
- Is the price clear before I start, including after any free trial?
- Is there a parent PIN on purchases and account settings?
How Litsee does it
Every family starts with a 7-day free trial; a card is needed to start it, and nothing is charged if you cancel before it ends. Plans start at £4.99 a month (see pricing).
Optional Gem packs start at £1.99. Children can't pay for anything: plans and Gem packs sit behind your parent PIN or your private family link, and grown-up areas, including account settings, are behind the PIN too.
For schools
The Department for Education's Generative AI: product safety standards set out what schools in England should expect from AI products used by pupils, under headings including filtering, monitoring and reporting, security, privacy and data protection, design and testing, and governance. The January 2026 update added cognitive development, emotional and social development, mental health and manipulation. Ask suppliers how they meet each one, alongside the DfE's wider guidance on generative AI in education.
In schools, Litsee offers Google single sign-on, UK hosting for schools and a data-protection agreement on request, with the same safety-checked, ad-free stories. Litsee for schools
The 10-point checklist
- Is what my child types checked before it reaches the AI?
- Is every story checked before my child sees it?
- Is there any open chat, or links out to other websites?
- What data is kept, for how long, and can I delete it?
- Is anything my child writes used to train AI?
- What is sent to the AI companies, and do they keep it?
- Are there adverts or advertising trackers?
- Can my child buy anything without a parent PIN?
- Is the text at my child's reading level, and does each story end?
- Is there a clear way to report a concern, and a real company behind the app?
The UK Safer Internet Centre's tips for parents and carers on AI are a good companion to this list.
Questions parents ask
Are AI story apps safe for kids?
Some are much safer than others. The AI itself matters less than what the app wraps around it: whether your child's words and the finished story are checked, whether there is open chat, what data is kept and shared, whether there are adverts, and whether purchases need a grown-up. Use the checklist on this page to compare apps.
Do AI story apps use my child's data to train AI?
It depends on the app and on its agreements with the AI companies it uses. Look for a plain statement in the privacy policy, and ask if it isn't there. Litsee keeps only a child's first name and age, everything else is anonymous, and nothing is stored to train AI.
What is the Children's Code?
The Age Appropriate Design Code, from the Information Commissioner's Office, is a set of 15 standards for online services likely to be used by children in the UK. It came into force in September 2020 and covers things like high-privacy default settings, collecting as little data as possible, switching off profiling and avoiding nudge techniques.
Can my child chat with the AI in Litsee?
No. There is no open chat in Litsee. Children choose what happens next or type an idea for their hero, and whatever they type is only ever the hero's idea, never an instruction to the AI. Every story request and typed idea is checked against child-safety rules.
Can my child buy things in Litsee?
No. Children earn Stars and Gems by reading. Plans and optional Gem packs, from £1.99, sit behind your parent PIN or your private family link, and payments go through Stripe, so Litsee never sees card numbers.
Does Litsee record my child's voice?
No. When your child reads aloud to the microphone, the browser's own speech recognition listens, and Litsee keeps no recording.
What should a school check before using an AI story app?
Start with the Department for Education's Generative AI product safety standards, which cover filtering, monitoring and reporting, security, privacy and data protection, and more. Ask the supplier for a data-protection agreement and how it meets each standard.
Sources
- Age appropriate design: a code of practice for online services (the Children's Code) Information Commissioner's Office, in force September 2020
- Generative AI: product safety standards Department for Education, January 2025, updated January 2026
- Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education Department for Education, updated August 2025
- Principles for online and app-based games Office of Fair Trading, adopted by the CMA, January 2014
- AI chatbots and online regulation: what you need to know Ofcom, December 2025
- Safer Internet Day 2026: top tips for parents and carers UK Safer Internet Centre, February 2026
How this page was made
Written by the Litsee team, with AI help for drafting, and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. It has not yet been reviewed by an independent teacher or literacy specialist; when it has, their name will appear here.
Every statement about Litsee on this page is one Litsee already makes on its website. Litsee makes an AI story app, so treat our answers as a supplier's answers and check them against the questions above.
Spotted something wrong or out of date? Email info@litsee.com and we will fix it. Last reviewed: .
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