Taiwan AI Labs and Chinatunes Culture Launch ibokids: World’s First Licensed Mandarin AI Storytelling Platform
[September 25, 2025] — ibokids, the world’s first licensed Mandarin AI storytelling platform, is officially live. The initiative is a joint effort between Ethan Tu, Founder of Taiwan AI Labs, and Chien-Fu Lee, Founder of Chinatunes Culture Incorporated, home to the largest Mandarin audio content copyright library. Following their earlier collaboration on the licensed AI music platform iBo-AI, this marks another milestone in the development of legally authorized AI voice applications.
Photo Caption: ibokids offers an interactive way for parents and children to choose their preferred “AI storyteller” and enjoy stories anytime, anywhere.
Authorized children’s publishers such as Yow Fu Culture, along with well-known voice actors including Rui-Chin Wang and “Uncle Pang,” have licensed their texts and voices for integration with AI speech generation technology. Since its launch, ibokids has already produced AI-narrated versions of more than 100 children’s audiobooks, which are now available across platforms such as Google, Kobo, Spotify, and international library networks—providing families with convenient, on-demand storytelling services anytime, anywhere.
ibokids takes an interactive approach that lets parents and children choose their preferred “AI storyteller.” Four AI voices—available 24/7—can narrate an entire book in as little as 30–40 seconds. This is 100 to 200 times faster than comparable services, which typically require one to two hours to generate an audiobook. The technology, powered by Taiwan AI Labs’ Yating Studio TTS service, delivers natural, human-like voices in both Mandarin and English without time or location constraints.
Unlike traditional bookshelf-style platforms, ibokids allows users to select both the story text and the narrator. Available options include AI versions of broadcasters Jia-Hao and Yating, trained with licensed data from Taiwan AI Labs, as well as AI voices modeled on Rui-Chin Wang and Uncle Pang, licensed and developed in collaboration with Chinatunes Culture Incorporated. Lee emphasized that this touch-based selection interface not only represents user autonomy in the AI era but also helps children develop motor coordination.
Photo Caption: From left to right: Uncle Pang, Chien-Fu Lee (Founder of Chinatunes Culture Incorporated), Ethan Tu (Founder of Taiwan AI Labs), and Chaohwei Huang (Chief Content Officer, Taiwan AI Labs).
Beloved by children as a “Storytelling King,” Uncle Pang personally attended the launch event in his signature costume, voicing support for the initiative. With humor, he remarked that the AI storyteller is his “friend, AI Uncle Pang.” While the voices of the real and virtual Uncle Pang may be indistinguishable, he assured that this only means he is “always available to serve children everywhere.”
As AI applications for human voices, singing, and music expand rapidly, creators face three key challenges: job displacement, lack of fair compensation for providing training data, and risks of voice misuse.
According to Tu, Taiwan AI Labs and Chinatunes Culture Incorporated have pioneered industry-first licensing agreements with prominent singers and voice actors, ensuring legal use of voice data for training AI voice models, alongside clear revenue-sharing mechanisms. Tu stressed the company’s commitment to replacing “deepfake” technologies with “Deep Real”—a responsible AI framework based on deep learning and legitimate licensing. This approach ensures that creators who license their voices can benefit economically from their contributions, establishing a sustainable and positive AI economy.
Lee added that Chinatunes Culture Incorporated holds authorized texts from multiple Taiwanese children’s publishers as well as licensed storytelling voices, making it Taiwan’s largest audio content copyright repository. With ibokids as the starting point, the company aims to further introduce AI technology to transform Taiwan’s content creation and publishing industries. By shortening production timelines and reducing costs through licensed AI voices, the platform opens up greater access to high-quality storytelling for families across the Mandarin-speaking world.
For more information, visit: https://www.ibokids.com
