Building an AI tutor for 3,000+ kids
In 2023, alongside Thomas Lopez, I built Jelly Tutor.
Designed for kids 6-11, it included fun, game-like lessons for topics in maths, english & trivia.
Supercharged with AI (powered by GPT-4), it helped explain questions to kids when they were stuck or when they got an answer wrong.
There are three key challenges when designing an app for kids:
- We obviously are not the target user, and communicating with them is tricky
- iOS & Android enforce strict guidelines on certain elements (e.g. paywalls)
- The app's user (child) is separate from the paying customer (parent)
We tackled these challenges with lots of parent-led user interviews, comprehensive product analytics, and relentless 'dogfooding' of our app.
Jelly Tutor hit top 5 in the UK App Store kids category charts.
Over 3,000 kids completed 100,000+ lessons on the app.
Ultimately, we decided it was better to offer Jelly completely free, to maximise value to everyone, rather than pursue the app as a business venture.
Ultimately, Jelly offered unique design challenges and allowed us to tap into our childlike creativity once again.
