The world is still a bit weary of generative AI, and understandably so given the spread of misinformation in modern times, but the entertainment industry has already found some exciting uses for it. Treefort Media founder Kelly Garner has unveiled an iPhone app called Storyrabbit that incorporates AI as an exciting new lens through which to discover more about the world as you step into it. Storyrabbit allows a user to select any location on a map, or simply turn on their location services, to hear stories from that location based on various preferences, and to drop further down rabbit holes that educate and entertain.
Beloved Lord of the Rings And Lost The actor Dominic Monaghan serves as one of StoryRabbit’s trusted hosts, and offers a filter called the Wild Guide that is attached to the flora and fauna of any place that a user may encounter or be interested in. Passion for nature conservation and the protection of endangered species, but it is through the help of Younite-AIA leader in generative AI and CSR technologies, he can be heard crafting stories based on animals living anywhere in the world. Storyrabbit currently offers the True Crime Guide featuring FBI criminal profiler Candice DeLong (killer psyche)The Monster Guide with Stephen Asma (Chinwag), and The Cynical Guide to Enjoying a Little Snark.
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Screen Rant Interviewed Dominic Monaghan and Treefort Media creative Kelly Garner about the inspiration behind Storyrabbit, how each guide filters the world through a different lens, and why the app contains the perfect building blocks to create a community interested in similar subjects – be they true crime, Nature, or paranormal.
How StoryRobot came into being and got Dominic Monaghan on board
“You want to lead with the stuff that’s interesting and, as it turns out, there’s cool stuff all around us.”
Screen Rant: Man, I’ve been playing with this Storyrabbit app, and I can’t stop. There are so many cool different categories and things you can do on it, and I found out about monarch butterflies right here in my neighborhood from your lovely voice. Tell me about how the concept of Storyrabbit evolved and what drew you to it.
Kelly Garner: I think all of us at some point have walked through a park, or gone on a hike or traveled to some interesting place, and had the feeling that there is a story here. Sometimes it is actually quite difficult to figure out the context for places and easily learn about them. In doing a lot of traveling this past summer, I had this realization – like a real, “aha!” Light bulb moment – about what we’re doing with Treefort’s premium storytelling across all genres in audio. Would it be possible to take any data source or any location or point of interest and make an interesting story about it? Not just famous places, not just historical landmarks, but any intersection or part of the La River. You realize, “Wait a minute, there’s an orange grove spread over the whole valley.”
This led to a cascade of realizations that based on all the data and knowledge we’ve experienced as a human race on this planet, it’s really exciting to be able to unlock all that knowledge and create something that tells a story. It’s not just reading a Wikipedia page; That’s not what it is. We spent a lot of time with the algorithms and with the technology itself to make sure that we were really achieving something in the story that people would find entertaining and informative. You want to lead with the interesting things and, as it turns out, there are cool things around us everywhere. Finally, there is a way to decode the world.
Dominic Monaghan: I have known Treefort Media for a long time now. We partnered on an Audible original drama called Moriarty, which I think ran for two seasons and is close to three. This is a company that, in many ways, specializes in the audio world.
Kelly spoke to me about the idea of ​​trying to understand the planet on the basis of curiosity and its telling of stories. It’s great that you found the monarch butterfly where you live, but imagine how much the app opens up if you’re lucky enough to travel to places you’ve never been before. You really want someone to tell you stories about the place through different filters, whether it’s history or nature or true crime. It’s a very fun way to understand the world; A playful or even cynical way to look at these places, just to give a little medicine for the sugar you have been swallowing for so long.
I think Kelly and I as friends have always been interested and intrigued by how stories are told around the world and how that colors the way you understand it. It just seemed like a very on-point idea for the way I travel. I go to places I’ve never been before, and I’ve rarely been to the same country more than once or twice, but I usually go in without any information. It’s about exploring curiosity, it’s about exploring the unknown, and every so often given the opportunity to go down the little rabbit holes that you’re interested in, it just opens up a different way of traveling.
How Storyrabbit uses AI to improve the listener’s experience
“What if we design all the guardrails, but we don’t actually have to physically record every single thing?”
Screen Rant: I love the surprise me feature on the app, where you can click it, and it just gives you something randomized so you can literally dive down a rabbit hole. I think that Storyrabbit uses AI in such a brilliant way, as a tool that teaches us the best of what’s around us. Can you talk about how Storyrabbit uses AI and location-based features to improve the storytelling experience for users?
Kelly Garner: Before we had these tools available, I had a similar dream. “Wouldn’t it be cool to essentially be able to listen to a podcast wherever you are in the world about a place?” But the world is really a big place and the physical production takes a very long time. I’ve been in TV, film and video for the last 20-plus years, and the reality is that sometimes even a limited podcast series that’s 10 episodes can take a year to make. There is not enough time to even consider covering the whole earth.
These AI tools have really allowed us to think about scale in a really profound new way where the challenge is, “Can we apply this great kind of storytelling and captivating kind of short audio stories? How do we do it globally?” And it would never have been possible before if we were just out there in the field trying to record and then edit and do all that stuff. We do this on a lot of podcasts, but with this one, we did an experiment and said, “What if we design all these guardrails, but we don’t have to physically record every single thing?” This allowed us full coverage of the world.
If you listen to Dominic Monaghan’s guides, for example, The Wild Guide, you could be in a park down the street or you could go on the map to a place in Antarctica and hear a really fascinating story about the local nature. Well, there’s a lot of ice there, so maybe it’s not the best place.
Dominic Monaghan: They have stories on the app that tell you all about the world or the filter you’re looking at. For the narrator to get so much information about our planet as a whole, they would have to spend years in a studio. Instead of spending years, I think I was there for about three hours, just reading stories about octopuses, about creatures that live in trees, and even stories about nature. From there, they put it through an artificial intelligence engine that can then use their voice to tell stories everywhere. Otherwise, I’d have to be in the studio seven or eight hours a day every day until I’m 80—and I’ll be dead by the time I’m 70, man. I’m moving too fast!
Screen Rant: Can you elaborate on how the app’s interest and location-based features work to personalize the audio journey for the user?
Kelly Garner: I think one of the trends that we’ve really seen at Treefort is that entertainment is heading to a much more personalized place where you choose what you want to watch and listen to, and you can’t look beyond social media to Make this happen. Everyone has different interests, and you may be obsessed with history or sci-fi or something else. Maybe you are traveling with a child who is not interested in sci-fi, but they are interested in anime.
It’s the idea that you can choose your own filter in the world, and essentially it’s like a choose-your-own-adventure for the world. You can actually point anywhere on the map and hear captivating stories. What we really try to do is give people the realizations and moments of discovery that you don’t have to go to a far place to achieve.
You can learn things about your neighborhood that you would have no idea if you were in true crime. We have one of our hosts from a show called Killer Psyche that we’ve been doing for a long time now, Candice DeLong, who is a former FBI criminal profiler and psychiatric nurse. She’s the original Mindhunter, and we designed a persona for her that allows her to filter the world so you can listen to true crime stories in your own neighborhood for better or worse.
Say you’re traveling somewhere, and you just want to hear true crime stories that happened around the Eiffel Tower. We are not trying to say that there is a monolithic way to tell. We don’t have all the stories, so every story you create is unique. If it’s good and you like it, you can share with your friends. Hopefully, they will spread the word as you all learn about new stuff.
Each StoryRabbit host has their own filter, and Dominic Monaghan is the wild guide
“There are so many different aspects of nature that are hidden to us.”
Screen Rant: You have various filters, like the Wild Guide, which teaches us about nature. As the narrator of The Wild Guide, what kind of stories and experiences can listeners expect from him?
Dominic Monaghan: I’ve always been interested in the disaffected part of nature, or the road less traveled. Of course, elephants and tigers and gorillas and lions are animals that I am also interested in, but because of the charisma value of these animals and the accessibility, they will be okay. They will get looked after because these are symbols of nature.
For me, I see it all as one complete entity. An elephant to me is as interesting as an elephant screw or any other tiny animal. I want to know about them. Again, looking at the world of nature through my particular preferences for the listener, they will take on ways and journeys that they could not even think of; That they will not go to before because they never even heard of the animal. That’s what I sure like about my opinion of nature; It’s a mystery every time you get to a different place because there are so many different aspects of nature that are hidden to us. This is an app that shines a light on the secret world we all live in.
Nature is one of the things that I’m very interested in and that moves me in terms of the way I travel, but I like the idea that you can wake up one morning and say, “You know what? I want to roll. The Dice.” You change the filter on the world you look at and, boom, now you’re doing something that younger adults could do. Now you’re doing something that’s all about museums. Now you’re doing something that’s all about the history of the city you’re in. It’s a really intriguing way to think about how we learn, and usually the most effective way to learn is to be entertained while it’s happening.
Screen Rant: How did you ensure there was something for everyone on Storyrabbit, and can we expect more of these filters soon?
Kelly Garner: I think we have a pretty long product roadmap and a lot of new features that we’re going to be unveiling in the coming weeks and months, which is really exciting. We can’t possibly encapsulate everyone’s interests because you can’t serve everyone. But I think at the same time, that’s where we’re going, and we’re building the marketplace in the app, where we’re going to bring in more subject matter experts, more domain experts, more personalities and influencers and celebrities and people who have a very unique Take on the world.
We will always be updated, and there will always be new stuff. We’re also working on a feature that will basically suggest things around you that you might find inspiring or interesting. If you don’t want to look for stuff, we’ll give you a hand to find some cool stuff to get you started.
Screen Rant: What impact do you think Storyrabbit will have on listeners, especially those who are passionate about the outdoors and wildlife?
Dominic Monaghan: Well, the great thing about people who love wildlife is that they will protect it. My hope with this app is that the people who are not necessarily too connected to wildlife, who may find themselves stumbling down a rabbit hole about it, will change their mind completely about their outlook on the world.
I was lucky enough to do a nature show for three years for the BBC and for the Travel Channel, and my mission with this show was to change people’s minds about animals that most people are afraid of. Because as we talked about before, elephants, tigers, gorillas and orangutans will be okay. We are going to watch them. It is the one that people hate; That people feel they deserve to die because they don’t like them. Just because you don’t love an animal doesn’t mean you have the right to kill it. It shouldn’t necessarily work that way.
With Storyrabbit, hopefully you’re delving pretty deep into the nature guide and realizing that there are animals out there that you not only didn’t know existed, but are now curious about. And if you’re curious about something, you’ll want to preserve it.
StoryRobot is ready to take you down unexpected rabbit holes
“Even if you start in a specific place, where you end up may be completely different.
Screen Rant: What does the rabbit hole feature contain, and how does it improve the listening experience for the user?
Kelly Garner: Essentially, we designed rabbit holes to pull three different themes from the main story that we think are compelling threads and can lead you either deeper down that specific theme or take you to a slightly different theme that might be completely different.
For example, one of our guides is the Monster Guide, and that’s Stephen Asma, who is the co-host of our Chinwag show that we do with Paul Giamatti. It’s a really fun one; He wrote a book on monsterology, and he is the expert on monsters worldwide. I recently listened to a Bigfoot story in Washington State, and I think there are probably some Bigfoots to listen to. And the story thread actually led me down to a goblin in Vietnam I had never heard of, which then led us to this ghostly apparition in Hawaii that I had also never heard of. But all stories have links to each other.
Even if you start in a specific place, where you end up may be completely different. And as a listener, I think that can be really exciting because you feel like you’re discovering something, and you have a hand in the story. It’s not just me saying, “Here’s 30 minutes that you have to listen to this one thing.” You can decide where you want to go with things, and if you want to change it, it’s very easy to change guides. “I’ve been listening to a lot of paranormal stuff, and now I just want to listen to music or sports.”
Dominic Monaghan: We are always on the go as humans. Especially when you get to places you might not have been before, there’s usually an agenda while you’re there, so we tend to find ourselves busy in new places. You need the convenience of being able to check something that’s in your hand to be like, “Oh, you know what? I have 20 minutes before my lunch starts,” or “We got here early, and I have 15 minutes to spare.” Before my taxi shows up what’s around here? Then you get a ping, and you can quickly get the experience and get on with your day.
It’s the accessibility and the ease with which you can explore places that you end up. Travel can be overwhelming for people a lot of the time; They buy 15 guidebooks, but they don’t really know what they’re looking for. It’s more of a shortcut to knowing what you’re looking for, and the more you interact with the app, the more it will obviously learn what your preferences are, and the world becomes even more interesting. It’s building itself.
“You’re entertaining and maybe accidentally learning something.”
Screen Rant: One of the cool things about this app is the community-building feature in it. Can you talk about that?
Kelly Garner: It’s an experimental way. We’re not sure if people will want to share these things or not because a lot of times when you’re on tour or you’re learning something, your knee-jerk reaction isn’t necessarily to share that knowledge. But what we’re trying to do is make that knowledge not feel like you’re educated, but like you’re entertaining and maybe accidentally learning something.
If you can sort of achieve that “aha!” moment or the discovery, you want to share this with your friends. Like, “I know this other person who is obsessed with the paranormal and would love this graveyard story I came across.” We’ve built in features so you can follow other people, they can follow you back, and you can notice a lot about what other platforms people have been using. But we’re trying to make it as easy as possible to share this short-form content and hopefully just get more people talking about it and more people learning about the world around them by hearing fun, captivating stories.
Dominic Monaghan: I’m not necessarily interested in the true crime of a particular place, but there are iconic crimes that have happened that have shaped cities and cultures – Jack the Ripper is a great example for London. If I was in London, instead of wanting to do the same Jack the Ripper tour as everyone else, I can do a StoryRabbit tour and find a community of people through the app who are also doing a Jack the Ripper StoryRabbit tour. You can share where you’ve been and share places with other people, and now you’ve found new friends in a new city with a subject you didn’t even know you were interested in, and it killed a day of time when you were in London.
You’ll see a StoryRabbit opportunity, and when you finish diving down the deeper rabbit hole, you can share what you’ve read with your friends and you can see what they’ve read too. Because of this, you have the opportunity to see what is happening on a daily basis in your feed and you can create small communities of people who are interested in a certain thing. Your feed will update all the time, and I would think at some point there will be an opportunity for small branches of people to go off into very small communities, sharing more and more information with each other.
Screen Rant: Storyrabbit offers such a unique way to explore the world. Can you provide any insight into some of the unexpected discoveries or learnings that users have shared with you?
Kelly Garner: That’s a great question. We definitely got feedback from a number of people who learned about some grizzly true crime stuff that happened in their cities. True, we are not trying to make people afraid of crime, but we are also trying to develop the history of crime. Even if you hear about the grizzly thing that happened in 1952, so there’s a level of separation, but I think there’s a lot of surprise about where notable things have happened.
We have a TV and film guide that essentially, wherever you are, will tell you a story there was a TV show or film shot there. I learned a lot about this just by living in Los Angeles, where you can’t walk around the corner without running into a film shoot. I think that was really fun to discover. I personally enjoy the history guide because I feel like my knowledge of history is limited to the last 100 or 200 years, and we can dip a lot further back, which was cool.
I think it’s less one thing to hook and more that each story is looking to give you a memorable kind of moment. And it’s a challenge, but I think we’re getting close to that. We just really want to hear from the community about what people like, what they want more of, and what they want less of. We are an agile team and we love the feedback.
Screen Rant: When you play with the Storyrabbit app, outside of nature, what do you look for?
Dominic Monaghan: I like history. I listen to a lot of story-based podcasts. I think one of my favorite things ever is to feel humbled and be exposed to incredible pieces of information that you never knew existed. You’re standing in the footsteps of that particular event, and I think it’s quite humbling in a lovely way.
I think the thing I’m probably most excited to try as I travel around the world in the next couple of months is the history I never knew existed. If you find yourself in a place and you have 5 or 10 minutes to check the app, you may realize that you are in a place where something happened that you didn’t even know about before jumping on the app. I like that.
Also, I like the community idea. I like the idea that we all have our little things that we are interested in; Things we want to dive deep into. Sometimes we feel a little self-conscious about it because you’re a bit of a nerd. You go deeper, you go deeper, you go deeper In the deepest part of the hole is a community of people who go, “Oh, we do that too,” and you can all become friends on the app. You find like-minded people while exploring the world, and I think that’s the thing I like the most.
Source: Screen Rant Plus