Built to be careful with a child’s likeness

Our position

Making a child the hero of their own story means handling something precious — their face, their name, what they look like. We would rather lose a customer to caution than earn one on a promise we can’t keep, so this page is specific rather than reassuring.

What happens to your child’s photo

Step by step, from the moment you upload — nothing here is buried in a policy.

1. 1

   You upload a few photos

   They are used to build one thing: your book’s character references — a locked Character Sheet that later pages are generated against.

2. 2

   What comes in is checked

   Uploads are moderated for safety before anything is generated.

3. 3

   We generate against your references, not a training set

   Your child’s likeness builds this one book. It is never used to train or fine-tune a model, never shown to another user, and never sold.

4. 4

   Every page is checked, and yours to approve

   Generated pages are moderated too, each page has a report button that reaches a person, and nothing is final until you approve it.

5. 5

   The book stays private

   Finished books are private by default. A share link is long and unguessable; a book becomes public only if you choose to make it so.

6. 6

   You can delete it all, anytime

   Delete the photos or the whole book whenever you like — or email us for a full data-deletion request, no account needed.

Why the hard line on training

A photograph of a child’s face is biometric data. You can change a leaked password; you can’t change your child’s face. That is the whole reason for the rule above: their likeness builds one book, is never used to train or fine-tune a model, and is never shown to another user. If you want the questions to ask us — or any app — before you upload, we wrote them down in what to ask before you upload.

A parent’s safety checklist

Take these seven questions to any app that wants a photo of your child — not just this one. Here is how Once Books answers each.

• Does it train its AI on your child’s photo?✓No — never.
• Can you delete the photos and the finished book?✓Yes, anytime, no account needed.
• Is the book private by default?✓Yes — public only if you choose.
• Are uploads and generated pages both moderated?✓Yes, on the way in and out.
• Is your child’s face ever shown to other users, or sold?✓Never.
• Can you report a bad page to a real person?✓Yes — a human reviews every report.
• Does it ask you to confirm you’re the parent or guardian?✓Yes, and records it.

It is the same standard we hold other services to — see how the alternatives compare on likeness, price and safety.

What we never do

• ·We never use your photographs to train AI models, and we never sell your data.
• ·We never show your photographs to other users.
• ·We never advertise to children, and we never make a book findable in search without your choice.

What we can’t promise

Honesty matters more here than reassurance. We can’t verify that you are your child’s parent or guardian — we ask you to confirm it and record that confirmation, but that is a deterrent and an accountability record, not proof. And no safety classifier is perfect, which is why every generated page has a report button and a person reviews what’s reported.

Common questions

Is it safe to upload my child’s photo to an AI app?

It depends on the app’s controls, not on the idea. With Once Books, your child’s photos are used only to build their book, are never used to train AI, and the finished book is private by default. The questions worth asking any app are the same ones we answer here.

Are my child’s photos used to train AI?

No. They build your book’s character references and nothing else. A child’s likeness is never sent to a provider that would train on it.

Who can see my child’s book?

Only you, unless you choose to share it. Books are private by default; a share link is long and unguessable, and a book becomes public only if you make it so.

Can I delete my child’s photos?

Yes, at any time, and nothing is final until you approve it. You can also email us for a full data-deletion request without an account.

What is biometric data, and why does a photo count?

A photo of a face is biometric — it identifies one specific person, and unlike a password you can’t change it if it leaks. That is why regulators (COPPA in the US, the UK’s Age-Appropriate Design Code) now treat children’s images and AI training with extra care, and why Once Books never trains on your child’s face.

Is an avatar safer than uploading a photo?

A menu-built avatar never sends your child’s face anywhere, so it carries less data risk — but it also doesn’t look like your child. Once Books is photo-based for real likeness and offsets the risk with the controls on this page: no training, deletion anytime, private by default.