Those of you who have tried out Multitudes might recall Carla asking you and your partner to collaboratively tell a story starting from a random prompt,  such as:

"All I ever wanted to be in life was simple – an intergalactic space princess."

Though the notion of improvising a story together can be awkward at first, it’s also one of the best ways for strangers to discover each other — and themselves.

"It was like our imaginations were slowly being set free to play," one user commented. And many people said they wished they had more time with the collaborative storytelling.

As we heard the overwhelmingly positive feedback, we began to imagine how we could use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the experience.

The Best Riffing Partner Ever

Why AI? Because it can do something that just about no human can: generate strikingly coherent ideas on demand. AI doesn't ever get writer's block — it can't.

And unlike humans, the AI is not beset by doubts and insecurities. It doesn't judge you for your responses. It doesn’t think “Oh, that's so dumb!” It listens to every word you say and it's always ready to riff with you on whatever you bring to it.

If you’re thinking AI sounds pretty much like the ideal improv partner (...or life partner?!), we agree.

Given all this, we were inspired to build a standalone version of the collaborative storytelling game from Multitudes — with a twist. Carla, previously an automaton, is now super-charged with AI.

We're calling it Story Jam: a place where you and a friend can meet up with Carla and jam on a story together.

In the last few months, we've been testing out Story Jam with three main groups: creative writers, improv aficionados, and – wait for it – elementary students.

Can you guess which one these groups is most into Story Jam? Well that’s the subject of our next post!

In the meantime, you can join the waitlist and check it out in action with this episode.