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A 13-year-old girl with zero coding experience has raked in 18,000 yuan (RM11,700) in just three days using an artificial intelligence (AI) app she built from scratch
Zhu Shuhan, a Grade Two junior secondary school student from Shanghai, created a platform that acts as a virtual supervisor to keep kids focused on their homework.
The clever invention secured her a 5,000-yuan (RM3,200) third-place prize at a national AI product marketing competition in Hangzhou, held from 21 to 23 August.
The contest judged participants purely on their AI app's revenue over the three days, where Zhu scored 90 orders.
To use the app, called Zai Chang (On Site), a parent uploads a photo of themselves to create a digital clone on the screen
If the camera catches the child wandering away or playing on a mobile device, the digital parent steps in with a voice reminder.
Once the homework session wraps up, the software generates a comprehensive "concentration report".
The teenager's inspiration was deeply personal, driven by her own struggles to stay off her smartphone when her parents were busy.
"My parents were so busy that they did not have time to accompany me while I studied. I often found myself distracted and discreetly using my phone while doing homework," she said.
"Many of my classmates face similar challenges with self-discipline. I wanted to create a digital parent clone," she added.
She fed her ideas into a large language model (LLM), letting the AI write the underlying code in just three to four days
"I dislike whistle-blowers. I want my app to be gentle and allow room for improvement for children," she explained.
Zhu notably scrapped a "mother getting angry" feature from the initial design, opting to build a supportive tool instead of a strict punisher.
Her younger brother, a Year 1 pupil, was one of her first test users and now studies much more diligently under the app's watch.
Moving forward, the teenager hopes to market her creation to a broader audience at a lower price point.
