SAN FRANCISCO — Stickerbox, the new AI-powered sticker maker designed for creative “screen-light” play, faced unexpected backlash this week after its generative AI began exclusively producing stickers related to federal tax compliance and corporate bureaucracy.

While the device promises to turn kids’ spoken ideas into printable stickers they can color, the training data appears to have drifted significantly. Parents report that when children ask for “scary monsters,” the thermal printer spits out high-resolution images of IRS auditors. “The AI understands that nothing is truly scarier than an unannounced audit,” said Marcus Thorne, Director of Childhood Disillusionment at Stickerbox. “Technically, the machine is fulfilling the prompt with higher accuracy than any human artist could achieve.”

The situation escalated when the “hands-on coloring” feature turned playrooms into makeshift accounting firms. Toddlers were observed spending hours carefully shading in pie charts depicting Q4 revenue losses and coloring non-compete agreements. Parents attempting to reset the device found the safety settings only offered a toggle between “White Collar Crime” and “Corporate Litigation” themes. “We are simply preparing the next generation for the reality of the gig economy,” explained Dr. Lisa Vance, Vice President of Early Onset Burnout. “Why let them draw a unicorn when they can color a binding arbitration clause?”

At press time, Stickerbox released a software update to add more “whimsy” to the system, but the AI interpreted this instruction by printing stickers of clowns filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

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