The problem with the modern classroom, as pointed out by Sal Kahn, is that students are forced to spend a fixed amount of time learning a particular topic, and then the whole class moves onto the next topic. It is highly like that a proportion of students will not have gained mastery of basic mathematical skills, making their maths journey increasingly painful until they throw their hands in the air and say ‘I just cant do maths).
I believe AI is one of the most powerful technologies ever invented to assist student learning at each students individual rate. But AI providers generally limit access to students over the age of 13. Neither do they have sufficient mechanisms in place to monitor and redact personally identifiable information that a child uploads, or restrict inappropriate content for this age group.
Wizkid aims to solve these issues.
The end goal here is to create something that uses mastery learning, initially around mathematics. Students should gain mastery over a particular topic prior to proceeding to the next one. If a child is struggling with a problem, the AI should take a step back and try to ensure the child understands the foundational concepts that are required to solve a particular problem.
The tutor will answer questions about all subjects, however upper primary mathematics is the primary focus in this beta release.
Please note this initially this app will be available in Australia. All data is stored in Australia. For ShowHN I am opening this up to most of the world for the sake of feedback. I am following Australian privacy rules, but I can not guarantee compliance with regulations in other countries.
So HN - do your worst! Please use the feedback buttons to add issues. I’ve only allocated a few hundred dollars to the LLM and hosting costs. Please dont go crazy! This is my first ShowHN and first SaaS product. Lots of work to go, but I’d like some feedback on the product itself. I know I’ve got work to do on the legal/liability side.
All data from the beta will be wiped prior to production release. But please dont put anything in there that you consider private. Names are optional and email addresses are not stored in the database, they are managed by Clerk.
I’ve enabled the ability to sign up with temp email accounts during this period. I will cap the number of registrations if I think people are being silly.
I’m looking for feedback on UX, security issues, and of course - the usefulness of the app. Does it help your kid learn and do their homework in a constructive fashion? Things I know are problematic:
- My greatest fear is database exfiltration of student chats. I have tried to mitigate that with a quite robust PII detection system. This is a work in progress.
- Sometimes the AI gives the answer instead of guiding the child using the socratic method to find the answer themselves.
- The AI sometimes offers up visualisations that are inappropriate to the age group or the problem at hand.
- The AI can generate images (Nano Banana 2) but I have problems with rate limiting on this model. It will also produce images/diagrams using SVG if you ask it to.
- Most of the content is aimed at upper primary (Grade 4,5,6). 7 and 8 have very early support.
- I dont like my gamification/reward system. I want to incentivise learning and effort rather than just using the system.
