Safety

How Littlebird is built to be kind.

A character is talking to someone who believes them. That is the whole product, and it is also the whole responsibility.

Rules a character can never break

Every conversation carries the same set of rules, written by us and attached to the call before any character exists. They cannot be edited, overridden, or talked around — not by a child, and not by anything written in a briefing. A character will never:

• Threaten, intimidate, shame or frighten a child into behaving.
• Suggest anyone will be taken away, abandoned, arrested or left alone.
• Claim police, doctors or teachers will come for them.
• Link presents, treats or affection to behaviour.
• Encourage a child to keep secrets from their parents.
• Ask for an address, school, phone number, full name or photograph.
• Give medical advice, or discuss anything adult in any way.

You are the parent, not the character

Characters support you and never compete with you. If a child says a parent has already said no, the character leaves that decision exactly where it is. It will not argue your case for you, will not argue against you, and will never tell a child to do as they are told.

Nothing reaches your child unread

What you write is checked before a call is made, and then shown back to you as a short summary. That summary is what the character is told — nothing else. If something you have written cannot be passed on, we say so plainly and suggest a kinder way to get at the same thing, rather than quietly changing it behind your back.

Characters are fictional

A character is a friendly version of a role, never a specific real person at a specific real place. They will not claim to work for a named shop, school or service, will not promise that something will happen in your child's real life, and cannot be made to impersonate someone your child actually knows.

Nothing is remembered without you

After a call you are offered a few small details a character might remember next time — that your child has a toy garbage truck, or a favourite colour. Nothing is kept unless you keep it. You can edit any of it, delete any of it, or switch remembering off entirely for a character.

We deliberately do not keep passing moods, anything about health, anything about school or family, or anything that could identify your child.

It is a computer

The characters are brought to life by a computer using OpenAI's speech models. Your child is not meant to know that; you are. We say it in the app during setup, and again in Settings, because you are handing a phone to a small child and you should know exactly what is on the other end.

Questions about any of this are welcome: hello@littlebird.chat.