Pocket FM launches Sherpa AI for long-form fiction writing
What's the story
Pocket FM has launched an innovative artificial intelligence (AI) platform called Sherpa. The new tool is aimed at helping creators write and develop long-running fiction. Pocket FM describes its approach as "Narrative Intelligence," a system that tracks characters, plotlines, and world details across hundreds of episodes. This makes it particularly useful for authors working on extensive narratives with intricate character arcs and evolving storylines.
AI functionality
Sherpa employs multiple AI agents for different tasks
Sherpa operates on custom-trained, proprietary models instead of a single general-purpose AI model.
It employs separate AI agents for different stages of the creative process: one for developing story ideas, another for planning structure, one for research, one for writing prose, and another for reviewing content.
A separate "Narrative World Model" keeps track of a story's history as it develops, ensuring consistency in plotlines, characters, and other details over time.
AI advantage
Narrative World Model keeps track of story details
The system is specifically designed to tackle a challenge unique to long-form fiction: details introduced hundreds of episodes earlier can remain relevant much later.
Sherpa retains that context rather than treating each episode as a standalone piece of content.
While creators maintain control over the story's direction and key creative decisions, Sherpa assists with planning, writing, and continuity.
Data training
The system is trained on Pocket FM's existing content library
Sherpa's models are trained using data from Pocket FM's existing platform, which boasts over 770,000 titles, 550,000 creators, and more than 5.5 billion hours of recorded playtime.
Vasu Sharma, Head of AI at Pocket FM, said that "Sherpa by Pocket FM is powered by our custom proprietary models." He added that these models continuously improve as more content is created and consumed.
User feedback
Ajit Kumar says 'Sherpa' can help a writer
Pocket FM says annualized content production on its platform has grown 75 times to more than 2.5 million hours.
The company also said the number of titles it classifies as blockbusters has increased tenfold.
Ajit Kumar, an author and early Sherpa user, said "Sherpa can help a writer through some of these obstacles." He added that it "does not take the place of the writer; it helps the writer keep going."