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Comment by catalinvoss | Hacker News Reader

We started with reading, providing patient coaching as kids learn to read out loud. We are now adding math and in some countries, English as a Second Language.

Students actually aren't as homogenous as you might think. And it's one of the big challenges teachers have with a classroom of 25+. They're forced to teach to the middle, which isn't great for kids that are slightly behind or ahead.

An AI tutor has the advantage to adapt and teach to each child's unique learning path, make sure core concepts are covered on an individual basis before moving on.

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Have you read the Sal Khan thoughts on AI and education?

About 1-2 years ago he had similar thoughts to solve that exact problem you mentioned.

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2026/04/09/sal-khan-reflects-on-ai...

Sal khan being the founder of Khan academy the most popular online education course

Yes! Deeply admire what Sal Khan set out to do. One of the original pioneers of how technology could transform education.

What we learnt from it: a chatbot is not enough to teach a child though. We need more to fully engage them and have the tools and context to truly teach them.

We describe this in the blog post, curious what you think.

Being frank I think its not enough to have a good looking app and have some llm calls

Think about your competition for your market. When I want my child to really excel in learning, I would force them into kumon - so they can skip a grade. If your a student who wants to learn you have khan academy.

And im just not seeing anything that screams-this is better than khan academy and kumon

All i see is an education app with good design

Sorry if it sounds harsh

P.s. if youre on the mission of educating people from developing countries-different story and different problems. Ignore what i put here then

> When I want my child to really excel in learning, I would force them into kumon - so they can skip a grade

Great - so now they're a year younger than all their peers in terms of emotional resilience. I've seen this play out time and time again, and it is disastrous for them and their ability to build relationships.

Pushing children ripe is never a good idea. If they're ahead of their peers, find other outlets for their intelligence. Teach them new skills, involve them in new hobbies. They need time to grow; education is a journey, not a race.

I should make this clear-forcing your kids into kumon so they can skip a grade is really shitty

I know its happens, but optimizing for education goals in American is usuabbly a faux pax

Please define "we".

> Students actually aren't as homogenous as you might think. And it's one of the big challenges teachers have with a classroom of 25+

True. It's well known that some % of students do well with individual tutoring. Move faster, understand things better, etc. And another part of students don't do well with that. They need other things. Maybe help from their peers in smaller groups (like 3..8 students), some after-school extra, a fix for problems back home, whatever.

But 5y olds? They need contact with peers, play, attention from humans, run around, build stuff from Lego blocks, touch grass, etc. Learning to read, "3x4=12" math etc isn't hard enough to warrant putting 5y old kids on AI tutors.

we = a team of teachers, AI experts, child psychologists, learning designers, and parents; building in the US and Kenya

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