If AI were built for kids, what would it look like?
Asking that question led us to creativity, and more specifically, the power of kids’ imaginations. We wanted to let kids combine the power of their ideas with AI tools but we needed to make sure we did it safely and in the right way.
Enter Stickerbox, a voice powered sticker printer. By combining AI image generation with thermal sticker printing, we instantly turn kids' wildest ideas into real stickers they can color, stick, and share.
What surprised us most is how the “AI” disappears behind the magic of the device. The moment that consistently amazes kids is when the printer finishes and they are holding their own idea as a real sticker. A ghost on a skateboard, a dragon doing its taxes, their dog as a superhero, anything they can dream of, they can hold in their hand. Their reactions are what pushed us to keep building, even though hardware can be really hard.
Along the way the scope of the project grew more than we expected: navigating supply chains, sourcing safe BPA/BPS free thermal paper, passing safety testing for a children’s product, and designing an interface simple enough that a five year old can walk up and just talk to it. We also spent a lot of time thinking about kids’ data and privacy so that parents would feel comfortable having this in their home.
Stickerbox is our attempt to make modern AI kid-safe, playful, and tangible. We’d love to hear what you think!
P.S. If you’re interested in buying one for yourself or as a gift, use code FREE3PACK to get an extra free pack of paper refills.
Why? Kids can combine the power of their ideas with crayons, markers, and pencils.
Although cool, I can see how this product will just inhibit instead of enabling creativity and play in kids. Instead of having to draw something to see it, refining the drawing over minutes or hours, the kid will just lazily ask for some half formed idea, and see it materialize from thin air. That's just sad
From the website it seems like a great way to generate some black and white outlines that kids can still color in. If used like that it seems almost strictly more creative than a coloring book, no? There are plenty of other ways kids can express creativity with pre-made art too. Maybe they use them to illustrate a story they dreamed up? Maybe they decorate something they built with them?
Also, some children might want to have fun be creative in ways that don't involve visual arts. I was never particularly interested in coloring or drawing and still believe myself to be a pretty creative individual. I don't think my parents buying me some stickers robbed me of any critical experience.
https://www.kidsafeseal.com/certifiedproducts/stickerbox_dev...
Also, do you guys have CPSC CPC certificate? I couldn't find anything to that effect.
How is it made to be "kid-safe"?
> Our model includes strict safety filters that block inappropriate content before it ever appears, ensuring that every creation stays fun, imaginative, and age-appropriate.
How do you filter the output of a generative AI like this?
> No internet open browsing or open chat features. > AI toys shouldn’t need to go online or talk to strangers to work. Offline AI keeps playtime private and focused on creativity.
> No recording or long-term data storage. > If it’s recording, it should be clear and temporary. Kids deserve creative freedom without hidden mics or mystery data trails.
> No eavesdropping or “always-on” listening > Devices designed for kids should never listen all the time. AI should wake up only when it’s invited to.
> Clear parental visibility and control. > Parents should easily see what the toy does, no confusing settings, no buried permissions.
> Built-in content filters and guardrails. > AI should automatically block or reword inappropriate prompts and make sure results stay age-appropriate and kind."
Obviously the thing users here know, and "kid-safe" product after product has proven, is that safety filters for LLMs are generally fake. Perhaps they can exist some day, but a breakthrough like that isn't gonna come from an application-layer startup like this. Trillion dollar companies have been trying and failing for years.
All the other guardrails are fine but basically pointless if your model has any social media data in its dataset.
> Here’s a parent checklist for safe AI play:
> [...] AI toys shouldn’t need to go online
From the FAQ:
> Can I use Stickerbox without Wi-Fi?
> You will need Wi-Fi or a hotspot connection to connect and generate new stickers.
If you consider a threat model where the threat is printing inappropriate stickers, who are the threat actors? Children who are attempting to circumvent the controls and print inappropriate stickers? If they already know about topics that they shouldn't be printing and are trying to get it to print, I think they probably don't truly _Need_ the guardrails at that point.
In the same way many small businesses don't (most likely can't even afford to) opt to put security controls in place that are only relevant to blocking nation state attackers, this device really only needs enough controls in place to prevent a child from accidentally getting an inappropriate output.
It's just a toy for kids to print stickers with, and as soon as the user is old enough to know or want to see more adult content they can just go get it on a computer.
I'm still bitter at Logitech for screwing up Squeezebox.
When LLMs are involved, I don't find the guardrails as hard as they are making out.
If AI were built for kids, what would it look like?
Exactly like this and it's heartbreaking.
I get that folks are worried about what AI-generated art will do to kids sense of creativity. Will they still learn to draw? Play instruments? Write stories?
But I genuinely believe that tech like this will only whet their imaginations. I would have had so much fun with this as an 8 year old, and would have spent hours just in my head, dreaming up ways to use my limited stickers.
Ofc parents will still need to encourage them to pick up hard skills (as has always been the case). But having an AI companion will mean they start seeing rewards for their efforts much faster. A shallower learning curve will prove to be a very good thing for most.
To me what you say:
> will mean that they start seeing rewards for their efforts much faster
sounds essentially a negative. This leads to rewards-chasing and a habit of obtaining result without an appropriate amount of effort. This means that many won't even ever discover their passions or what they are good at. Putting the effort is a necessary step to grow. In other words, will any kid with this machine ever draw something from scratch, after they got used to having something much better than what they could do (at least at the beginning) by hand?
All of this without even mentioning the impact of creativity, where instead of having to think/conceive stuff you have a technology that does that for you after a minimal input, rehashing what has been already thought.
My wish is that tech people just realized that the world is better off without their tech in most cases and stopped thinking that everything in the world needs some tech to "help" (which of course is really a way to make money).
Also, criticism is not hate, and I think you and every other disingenuous AI cheerleader know it.
It's rare that I see a launch on HN that I could call abjectly evil, but this is certainly it.
It is heinously disgusting and morally repugnant, everyone involved with creating it and bringing it to market should be ashamed of themselves.
When I was more youthful I remember getting the avery sticker sheets for a school election, but a roll where someone could do one at a time would be more useful for random stuff.
Any of a variety of 4" thermal shipping label printers without AI, generally ranging from $30 to $75: https://www.amazon.com/Phomemo-Bluetooth-241BT-Wireless-Comp...
Everything about this is marked up to hell to pay for the generative AI end.
All the constructive/neutral comments are downvoted, too, giving them even more visibility.
I don't think this is a legal product to market towards children in the US
and that's without even mentioning the LLM usage
real glad my nibblings all got real art supplies when they were little. that fosters real creativity and the lot of them can draw better than any of the examples on the sales page, and they're still little kids. and there's no subscription, no EULA, their supplies are legal and safe to use, etc.
This product is actual trash
