NOT YET REVIEWED This English version was translated with the help of AI and has not yet been checked by a native speaker. Until then it is hidden from search engines.

How we make it with AI

Sovalu is a small family studio. Artificial intelligence helps us with voices, translations and first drafts. A person always makes the decisions, and we never hide the AI.

Who’s behind it

We’re Jan and Aneta, and we have two kids, who were five and seven when we started. We want to make calm stories with no chases and no monsters, the kind that are easy to drift off to.

Jan is an IT engineer. He is building the tech, from the tools in which the stories are created with the help of AI to this website, and he looks after producing the episodes. He reads and approves every episode before it is published. Aneta is the voice of Sovalu. Episodes read by an AI clone of her voice are still in preparation; no published episode uses her voice yet. The clone of her voice was made with her consent and we use it only for Sovalu.

We write with the help of AI and we’re open about it. And if Aneta ever says stop, we’ll stop using her voice.

From idea to listening

  1. Idea and text. AI writes a draft; a person edits it, shortens it and slows it down. For children we make sure nothing is scary and every story ends with a wind-down.
  2. Translation. AI prepares the translation. We publish it only after a native speaker has checked it. Until that check is done, the page carries a visible notice and we keep it out of search engines.
  3. Voice. Stories are read by a synthetic voice. If we ever use a voice based on a real person, it is only with their consent, and we always say so.
  4. Review. A person approves every episode before it is published. Nothing is published without approval. This website prototype also shows episodes that have not been approved yet, and labels them as such.
  5. Publishing. We are setting it up so that one approved record becomes a page on this website, an item in our podcast RSS feed and a video with a calm picture.

Whose voice you hear

We want the voice reading to you in the evening to belong to someone who really stands behind the project and vouches for what you hear. That is why we are preparing episodes read by an AI clone of Aneta’s voice. Every episode that uses it will say so on its card and in the player: “Read by Aneta · AI voice”.

No published episode uses Aneta’s voice yet. The test recording of The Path to the Mountain Lake uses Kami, a voice from the ElevenLabs voice library.

How we label AI

  • Labels on every card and next to the text: how the text, voice and translation were made, and whether it has been approved.
  • One sentence at the start of each episode saying the voice was created by AI and the text approved by a person.
  • The first line of every description in podcast apps and on YouTube.

Where to find us

Every episode’s home will be this website. Podcast apps (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts and others) will pick up new episodes from our RSS feed by themselves. The feeds are still in preparation.

On YouTube we are preparing a channel for adults and a separate kids’ channel. Videos will be marked as synthetic content, and children’s stories also as made for kids.

What we never do

  • We never promise treatment or “guaranteed sleep”.
  • We never use other people’s characters or brands, only our own world.
  • We only use a voice based on a real person with that person’s consent.
  • We never pass off an AI voice as a live reading.
  • We never publish articles about sleep without study citations and expert review.

Operator and contact

Operator: Ing. Jan Kočí, sole trader, Company ID (IČO) 76629660, registered address Němčice 239, 533 52 Němčice, Czech Republic. Registered in the Czech Trade Register. Contact: [email protected]