Personalized Storytelling and Reminiscense with AI
Part of the "Generative AI for Aging Well" series
Storytelling is a powerful way to connect generations, make sense of our lives, and preserve identity. For older adults, the process of documenting memories or creating family stories is often meaningful but also time-consuming or difficult to begin. Generative AI is opening new possibilities for making this deeply human activity more accessible, interactive, and personalized.
1. Generating Life Stories
Instead of staring at a blank page, older adults can now work with AI tools that transform notes, photos, or prompts into first-person narratives. For example:
The LifeBio Memory app allows users to record responses to guided prompts, which can be turned into narrative interviews or life stories.
ChatGPT or Claude can take structured prompts—dates, places, key events—and generate a draft memoir, which users can then revise in their own voice.
This collaborative storytelling approach supports memory recall and allows for storytelling at one’s own pace, without the pressure of getting it “right” the first time.
2. Creating Personalized Children’s Books
Grandparents are finding creative joy in using AI to generate customized children’s stories. Imagine a bedtime story where the grandchild is the hero, the family dog speaks, and the setting is grandma’s old hometown.
Tools like MyStorybook, StoryWizard, and ChatGPT + DALL·E allow users to create illustrated books from short prompts.
Family-specific details—like a favorite treehouse or inside joke—can be woven in using AI to make each book unique.
This is not just fun. It’s a form of legacy-building and connection across generations.
3. Recreating Past Experiences
For individuals living with memory loss, storytelling can become a therapeutic bridge to the past. Generative AI can help fill in the gaps by:
Producing short descriptive scenes from fragmented memories (e.g., “a summer at the lake” becomes a vivid paragraph of setting and emotion)
Drafting short scripts for role-play or memory recall exercises
Visualizing places or objects with tools like ''Midjourney'' or ''DALL·E'', based on verbal descriptions
In early-stage dementia care, projects like Memory Lane (a collaboration with Microsoft) have explored how AI can prompt storytelling to stimulate memory and reinforce identity.
Looking Ahead
Personalized storytelling with AI is not about replacing the human voice. It’s about supporting it, especially when that voice is quieted by age, memory loss, or hesitation. In the next post, we’ll explore how generative AI is unlocking creative expression and artistic pursuits for older adults who never thought of themselves as “artistic.”