PBS KIDS is building some new tech into episodes of its upcoming series Lyla in the Loop where kids can talk to its main character, who will use AI to understand viewer responses and then respond.
Ordered this past January and set to launch in February 2024, the 40 x 30-minute series for four to eights centers around a young girl who looks for creative ways to craft new things and learn along the way. Examples of her adventures include Lyla creating homemade carnival games out of repurposed materials, and helping others in her neighborhood manage trash and recycling.
PBS KIDS plans to launch special episodes that allow for AI-assisted conversations between Lyla and kids watching at home. During these segments, accessible at a future date on PBS KIDS platforms, Lyla will occasionally ask viewers questions. Using AI, she will be able to understand kids’ responses and talk back to them accordingly.
Before PBS KIDS launches the eps, it’s going to analyze their efficacy for helping kids learn and stay engaged with the content.
Pennsylvania-based Mighty Picnic and Canada’s Pipeline Studios produce the 2D-animated series—and its AI-enabled episodes.
AI-powered episodes represent new terrain for the pubcaster, but it has experimented with similar types of interactivity over the past few years. PBS KIDS released Scribbles and Ink and Team Hamster!, which play out like regular TV shows but feature moments where kids have to do things like draw or move objects in order to drive the on-screen action forward.
Blending games and videos in this way builds deeper engagement and turns kids into creators of their own stories, according to PBS KIDS VP and GM Sara DeWitt in a previous interview with Kidscreen.