Sherpa and the future of AI-powered storytelling at Pocket FM

In this age, where videos have almost replaced every kind of content, and the average attention span is shrinking, finding audio stories is getting increasingly difficult. What is even more arduous is coming across audio content/stories that can truly hold your attention, and that too without the need for a screen.

The quick, short-form content that is trumping the internet rarely leaves much room for real character development in stories, or deep plots that can engage the audience for a longer period than the internet’s infamous “30 seconds”.

That is exactly the gap Pocket FM is set out to fill, and is succeeding. Launched in Bengaluru in 2018, the platform focuses on long-form audio dramas packed with complex characters, wild twists, and cliffhangers that keep the listener hooked. Pocket FM listeners spend more than 155 minutes a day on the platform, following stories that can run for hundreds of episodes.


Since its launch, the platform has reached 20 countries, including the United States, which has also emerged as its largest market, accounting for roughly 70% of annualised revenue.

Five of Pocket FM’s franchises, in the twenty countries of its operations, have crossed one billion plays across languages. The company also reports that 96 series have generated over US$1 million each, including 13 that have crossed US$10 million. This approach gives more stories a chance to find an audience and helps identify those with the potential to grow into larger entertainment franchises.

Of course, the reach and the listenership the platform has earned through its journey are feats to be celebrated. However, what is more interesting than that, in the Pocket FM journey, is how the stories are woven and how the characters are developed.

Giving creators the tools to tell their stories

Producing entertainment, especially for large audiences, has followed a long, set process: writing, editing, production, post-production, and distribution. This process, apart from being long, hindered the progress of independent writers, who might have been brimming with ideas but lacked the resources to turn their ideas into finished content. And even if they did, somehow reaching beyond a local audience has been equally challenging.

Pocket FM is well on its way to mitigating these barriers by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into different stages of the creative process of content creation. The technology is now capable of assisting writers as they develop characters, build storylines, produce content, and adapt their work for different markets.

Pocket FM is proving that it is indeed possible to take away the pain points, including the inaccessibility of traditional studios, and democratise the process of content creation using AI, and the fact that more than 550,000 creators have already published on the platform, including hundreds of thousands of first-time writers.

And it is not limited to just creation. Pocket FM is also leveraging AI to help creators take their stories to audiences beyond geographical boundaries, regardless of whether these creators have access to studios or resources.

Reaching across geographies had a cost factor, given language adaptation meant additional spending. Thankfully, with AI-powered localisation, stories can now reach listeners in different countries without the creators having to incur the language adaptation costs.

Human storytelling and AI

The rise of AI has been seen by many as a threat, with speculations about AI replacing workers in different domains not finding closure. This fear of replacement extends to the creators as well.

Pocket FM’s AI philosophy, however, puts the fears to rest. The platform believes that the technology should expand a creator's horizon and the scope of what they can create rather than removing the creator from the process.

The whole process is also turning out to be a challenge for AI, as it makes life easier for creators and makes content more easily available for the listeners. The next part of the challenge is that the content needs to hold listeners' attention, particularly when it runs across hundreds of episodes.

Pocket FM’s catalogue of more than 770,000 titles, representing approximately 2.6 million hours of content, demands a deep understanding of audience preferences.

Also, helping creators maintain a thread and consistency in their stories as the plot thickens and gets lengthier is something the technology has to confront as well. Characters introduced in early episodes need to remain consistent later in the story, relationships must develop naturally, and events from the past may shape what happens hundreds of episodes down the line.

The question is: is the technology capable enough to tackle such complex and time-consuming processes that demand creativity?

Sherpa keeps the plot alive!

Pocket FM is ensuring AI meets the challenge and delivers. The platform has developed Sherpa, an AI-powered writing partner designed specifically for long-form fiction. It works with the broader structure of a story, including its characters, relationships, settings and plotlines, helping writers maintain context as the narrative develops.

The approach draws on what the company calls “Narrative Intelligence”, which focuses on understanding how different elements of a story connect and keeping track of them over time.

For writers, this can make it easier to manage complex storylines and maintain continuity across episodes. They can use AI to support the writing process while retaining control over the characters, creative choices, and direction of the narrative.