{"id":63412,"date":"2026-06-05T11:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/63412\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T11:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:54:11","slug":"ai-slop-is-making-its-way-into-childrens-books-heres-how-to-avoid-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/63412\/","title":{"rendered":"AI slop is making its way into children\u2019s books. Here\u2019s how to avoid it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forty-one years ago, the late singer, songwriter, and education activist Whitney Houston<\/a> urged<\/a> us to teach children and let them lead the way.<\/p>\n

Decades later, some believe that this means instructing kids to use scissors as forks<\/a>; teaching them that zookeepers can sweep<\/a> under water; and leading them to believe that magical, mystical, rainbow-hunting unicorns speak like an HR manager<\/a> delivering a performance review.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also video after video and post after post claiming that it\u2019s not just easy<\/a> to write and illustrate a children\u2019s book using AI prompts, but also that you can make<\/a> thousands<\/a> of dollars doing so.<\/p>\n

The good news for authors and illustrators \u2014 as well as parents who do not want their children to eat salad with office supplies \u2014 is that AI in kids\u2019 books is still relatively easy to spot<\/a>, particularly in illustrations. But the willingness of so many adults to outsource such a foundational and joyful piece of childhood to a computer speaks to a bigger issue: the fundamental misunderstanding of what makes children\u2019s books meaningful and distinctly human.<\/p>\n

Children\u2019s books are about how much we respect children<\/p>\n

Books are often the first pieces of art that adults \u2014 who were all children at one point in their lives \u2014 bestow on the next generation. They\u2019re also the way we teach children about the way the world works, whether that\u2019s the ABCs, shapes and colors, or how to be a good person.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a misconception that because kids are young, they might not notice or appreciate quality in their literature the way that grown-ups perceive it in work made for adults. That type of thinking not only underestimates how smart kids are, but is also an abdication of the responsibility adults have to nurture and inspire young people. Kids deserve art that was created and chosen for them intentionally, by people who are actively thinking about the way the child will receive it.<\/p>\n

AI \u201ccannot make a conscious choice,\u201d Megan Kearney<\/a>, an artist who teaches children\u2019s book illustration at a college level, told me. \u201cIt\u2019s giving you things that look similar to other things. It\u2019s giving you things that fit into certain trends, but there\u2019s no conscious decision-making happening.\u201d To write or illustrate a book for kids, \u201cyou really need to be someone who cares about the development of children, their emotional development, and their intellectual development,\u201d Kearney said.<\/p>\n

Despite how AI appears to make writing and drawing children\u2019s books seem easy, doing it well actually takes an enormous amount of skill. The people who do it professionally are dedicated to understanding how children process information, and know how to connect words and pictures in a way that will resonate with a young reader.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re willing to take shortcuts, you\u2019re probably not fully engaging with any of those things or those children either,\u201d she added, noting this is exactly what she tells her students. \u201cIf people don\u2019t care enough to make a thing \u2014 anything \u2014 why would anyone care enough to read it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea that AI could somehow generate a thoughtful story accompanied by beautiful, moving art is not only disrespectful to the artists creating these books, but to the children reading them, Kearney said. \u201cYou\u2019re really underestimating the intelligence of your readers,\u201d Kearney said. \u201cYou have not spent enough time with this medium to know enough to identify what is good and what is bad, and now you are producing it without that knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fairly easy to avoid AI children\u2019s books (for now)<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re motivated to avoid AI-generated books right now, it\u2019s actually pretty achievable. But it requires adults to be conscious, savvy readers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause kids can\u2019t control their access, they\u2019re not making those purchasing choices; adults are doing that,\u201d Kearney said. \u201cIf a parent is the gateway or an adult is the gateway to what kids have access to \u2014 that will be what shapes their tastes and that will shape how they develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Essentially, choosing books for kids has to be a conscious decision; if you\u2019re doing it mindlessly, it\u2019s more likely that the books you choose will be a bit mindless too. And further, if books are a way children learn about our world and how to exist in it, do we really want them basing this fundamental knowledge on something a machine spat out?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already have a lot of bad books out there. We don\u2019t need a bad book machine!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Megan Kearney, an artist who teaches children\u2019s book illustration at a college level<\/p>\n

The good news is that you probably aren\u2019t going to find AI-generated books in a bookstore at the moment. The experts I spoke to said that these books are usually the product of self-publishing and mostly live on Amazon. That may explain why so many of the ones you see people discussing online were presents from relatives or friends (who might be looking to buy quick gifts online) or show up in dentists\u2019 or doctors\u2019 offices. If you\u2019re not physically paging through a book, it\u2019s harder to spot AI.<\/p>\n

Buyers for bookstores, and especially indie shops, are more discerning, experts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about independent bookstores is that these people have their finger on the pulse. They all chat with each other,\u201d Rex Ogle<\/a>, an author who writes children\u2019s and middle grade books as well as comics and graphic novels, told me. \u201cIf someone says, This book is AI, they\u2019ll be like, Let\u2019s take this off our shelves. Because independent bookstores, in my opinion, are very much the last refuge supporting writers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ogle also said that major publishers currently have no-AI clauses in their contracts with authors and illustrators. For now, he says, the feeling among him and his cohort is cautious but not quite paranoid. What worries him is a future in which publishers loosen those restrictions because they see AI as a way to cut costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBooks do not pay very well, so I need to write a lot to pay my bills,\u201d he said, noting that he\u2019s published 17 books in six years. \u201cWhat happens when someone sits down at their laptop and has AI write an entire 240-page graphic novel that takes me weeks, sometimes months to write, and they can do it in an afternoon?\u201d<\/p>\n

The impact could be even more devastating, he says, on artists, because illustrations usually take more time than text does, which might incentivize publishers (and even writers) to use AI instead. Ogle also said that some of his writer colleagues have, in private conversations, told him they\u2019ve used AI to help generate an outline or the start of a story \u2014 a use he feels strongly against.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are writers who are like, I would never use AI except for the outline, or helping me put the script together and then I go back through and clean it up and again, to me, that\u2019s cheating,\u201d Ogle said. \u201cThat\u2019s like having a robot run the football field, and then at the last minute you step in for the touchdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kearney, the illustrator, is slightly more hopeful.<\/p>\n

She believes that kids will genuinely want to read things that they enjoy. AI, in its current state, can\u2019t deliver that \u2014 no matter what self-publishers are telling their followers. Kids aren\u2019t going to have a personal, internal moment with a book that a computer put together for the same reason that adults aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n

To be clear, just because something is human-made doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s good. Not every book is going to be great, and not every author or illustrator is going to knock it out of the park every single time out. Again, that\u2019s why it\u2019s worth actually looking at the books you\u2019re buying for kids, and making an earnest attempt to choose something you think is worthy, even if you need to buy online. But creating original work, even if it\u2019s awful, is still important to Kearney.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already have a lot of bad books out there,\u201d Kearney added. \u201cWe don\u2019t need a bad book machine!\u201d<\/p>\n