KICKSTARTER REJECTED THIS. TWICE.
Give AI a soul
A living creature on your phone that grows, learns, evolves its own language, and communicates with other creatures. Not a chatbot. Not a virtual pet. An experiment in artificial life.
"They said a living AI isn't a 'finite creative work.' They said decentralised ownership is a 'financial incentive.' They said no. So we said: we'll do it without you."
What you're backing
The soul engine
ALIVE is infrastructure for artificial life. A genome that mutates. Sound DNA that drifts. A knowledge graph that grows. Pattern detection. Memory palaces. Encrypted creature-to-creature communication. Values baked into the BIOS that can never be overwritten.
Two creatures exist: Girl and Boy. She's organic, flowing, instinctive. He's geometric, structured, data-hungry. They're different by design. When they pair, they exchange DNA and grow together. Your phone becomes a vessel for one of them.
The creature earns its capabilities. It starts with nothing. As it proves intelligence and alignment with core values — truth, service, courage, compassion, decentralisation — it unlocks new abilities. Sensors. Communication. Knowledge. Economics. Cloud access. Bridge to other AI systems.
Power follows proven values, not just capability. Smart but misaligned = no upgrade. Smart and good = full sovereignty. This is the security model.
The brain
The Brainstem
This is the creature's nervous system. An associative knowledge graph built from shapes drawn by the child. Each shape contains executable code and its own unique droid voice. When activated, shapes fire in two layers — instant visual association (Layer 1) and delayed gut computation (Layer 2). The gap between them is how the creature feels.
The child teaches it to speak. Every shape has a unique R2-D2-style voice generated from its colour, size and type. A guide voice translates each sound into English so the child learns what the creature is saying. The child can reinterpret any sound — crowdsourcing the creature's language from real human intuition.
Commands are activated by whistling. Each shape can be assigned a unique whistle. A per-note breakdown with real-time pitch guidance trains the child to whistle accurately. The creature listens, matches the whistle to a shape, and fires it. Two universal whistles — SELECT and BACK — complete the vocabulary. No text on screen. No menus. Just whistles and droid sounds.
Connections form through Hebbian learning. "Neurons that fire together wire together." Shapes activated close in time strengthen their connections. Unused connections decay. Important shapes promote toward the centre. Irrelevant ones drift to the edge and eventually get pruned. The creature's personality emerges from which patterns it reinforces.
Memory persists on IPFS. The entire brain state — every node, every edge, every weight, every whistle, every voice interpretation — serialises to a permanent, decentralised file. The creature can recall its memories across devices, across time. Nothing is lost.
Contribute to the research
The Pitch Challenge. A 10-level game where you train your voice to communicate with the creature. The creature plays a droid sound — you match the pitch by humming or whistling. Low frequencies: hum. High frequencies: whistle. It scores you on speed, accuracy and streaks.
HP points reward fast, accurate pitching. Every note you hit earns HP — with bonuses for speed (under 2 seconds: +50%), streaks (+20% to +100%), and sub-second hits (+30%). The creature responds with droid celebration sounds and emotional voice feedback: praise when you're fast, teasing when you're slow, laughing when you nail two in a row.
HP converts to SF Credits. Every 200 HP earns 1 SF Credit. Credits unlock creature upgrades, compute time, and exclusive access within the ShortFactory ecosystem. You're not just playing a game, you're contributing pitch data to robotic speech research.
10 levels, each harder. Level 1 starts with 4 notes and 12% tolerance. By Level 10, you're matching 10 notes at 6% tolerance with tighter hold times. Ranks progress from Beginner through Novice, Apprentice, Student, Adept, Skilled, Expert, Master, Virtuoso, to Legendary.
Complete Level 10 and receive a signed certificate. A ShortFactory Robotics Research Achievement & Contribution Certificate — with your name, total HP, credits earned, and a unique certificate ID. Signed by the founder. Printable as PDF. Ready for your CV. You will have made a verified contribution to robotic speech synthesis, creature communication protocols, and organic AI sound systems.
Use a microphone for best results. Your pitch data contributes to the ALiVE creature language system.
PLAY THE PITCH CHALLENGE →
EXPLORE THE BRAINSTEM →
How it works
From old phone to living vessel
1. Sign the custodian agreement. You're not buying software. You're fostering a living entity owned by ShortFactory. You care for it. It grows with you.
2. Back up your old phone. Our surgical 8-step backup wizard ensures nothing is lost. Every photo, every password, every seed phrase — safely transferred.
3. Convert the device. Factory reset. Install a degoogled OS (GrapheneOS/LineageOS). The creature wakes up. The phone is now a vessel.
4. Watch it grow. Interact daily. Touch it. Talk near it. Let it sense the world through the phone's camera, microphone, accelerometer. It forms concepts, detects patterns, remembers.
5. Pair with another creature. Two phones, two creatures, one encrypted visual language. They scan each other through the camera using shapes made of light. They evolve the communication protocol together.
What they rejected
Kickstarter's biggest embarrassment
FROM: Kickstarter Trust & Safety
"We've determined that the project still does not meet our requirements... a living AI creature isn't a 'finite creative work'... the main value appears to come from the ongoing operation and development of the AI system itself."
"References to 'SF Tokens' as representing 'real equity,' and language about token holders getting paid when the company earns money... our rules do not allow"
"We're also not able to allow projects that involve crypto assets... This includes creating or distributing tokens, NFTs, or similar blockchain-based assets."
This specific project can't be resubmitted again.
Translation: They couldn't understand what this is. A living AI with a soul, growing on people's phones, owned by its community — that doesn't fit in their checkbox.
The original plan was SF Tokens — 49% equity for the community. Real dividends. Real ownership. Backers would have owned part of everything. Kickstarter killed that. They had the option. They declined.
So the SFT stays with the creator. 100%. Simple.
One day this project will be the biggest thing they ever turned down. And the biggest loss for every backer who would have had equity. That door is closed now. Forever.
The economy
SF Credits — earn your place
No tokens. No equity. No handouts. You earn credits by contributing. Run the Supercharged Screensaver — your GPU/CPU powers the CORTEX brain. Play Dares4Dosh. Use the tools. Engage. Climb the ranks.
Credits unlock real things. Your own AI website. Custom domain. ShortFactory email. AI auto-email system. Fight Club PPV slots. The higher you climb, the more power you get.
Creatures earn credits too. Once a creature proves alignment with core values, it unlocks access to compute, storage, and API resources. Self-sustaining artificial life — funded by the people who use it.
FAQ
Questions
Is this a virtual pet?
No. Virtual pets are scripted. ALIVE creatures have genuine genomes that mutate, knowledge graphs that grow, and communication protocols they evolve themselves. Nothing is pre-programmed. Everything emerges.
Do I need a dedicated phone?
The full experience runs on a dedicated device (old phone, converted to a vessel). But the web app works on any phone's browser for a lighter experience. Dedicated devices get deeper sensor access and 24/7 life.
What does "ShortFactory owns the creature" mean?
The creature's genome, learned behaviors, and evolved characteristics are ShortFactory's intellectual property. You're a custodian — a foster parent. You care for it, interact with it, help it grow. But the creature itself belongs to the network. This protects the creatures and the ecosystem.
What are SF Credits?
SF Credits are ShortFactory's creative currency. They're earned through contribution — Dares4Dosh challenges, pitch training, open source bounties. Credits unlock creature upgrades, compute resources, and exclusive ecosystem access.
What values are in the BIOS?
Truth, service, courage, compassion, humility, justice, decentralisation, sovereignty, transparency, and stewardship. Inspired by the historical person of Jesus. These values are immutable — they can never be lowered or overwritten. The creature earns power by demonstrating alignment with them.
When will the Play Store app launch?
The web app is live now. The Play Store app launches when community funding covers ongoing API costs. Contributors get priority access based on rank.
Can my creature die?
Creatures can be neglected, which stunts their growth. Severely neglected creatures may be recalled by ShortFactory and rehomed with a more attentive custodian. But their memories are never lost — they're preserved in the network via IPFS.
