Students learn to draw, write with AI at comic workshop

The future of storytelling took a playful turn at the ongoing 44th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) as a group of curious young minds gathered for a storytelling workshop aimed at introducing the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to students -some as young as four years old.

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The "Writing Comic Strips with AI" session showed participants how to use AI-driven creative tools to generate ideas, design characters and help budding artists shape their own comic universes.

"This workshop is about showing how AI can be a co-creator, not a replacement," said Ritin Nair, the facilitator of the session.

"We want kids to see that technology can expand their imagination not limit it."

However, some like Abigail, 4 years old, who's barely started school, the half-hour class was all about learning shapes and sizes. "I loved to colour the cartoons."

"Today's workshop had really small kids who don't fully know how to use AI yet. So for the younger ones, we gave cutouts of comic strips and asked them to fill them creatively. For older participants however, we guide them to use AI prompts to help generate ideas, dialogue, and storylines. They fill the strips, draw characters, and then ask AI for better suggestions - it's all about creativity and experimentation," explained Nair.

Brothers Nabil Abdirahman, 14, and Yunis, 12, from the Victoria International School of Sharjah, worked together to build a futuristic world.