What our AI actually does
These are the only kinds of AI a child ever meets in a Spark & Anvil app. Each one is tied to the activity on screen — a hint, a question, a character to teach, or a labelled AI-literacy lesson.
Socratic tutorA hint phrased as a question instead of an answer — for example, “What do you notice about the two shapes?” It withholds the answer on purpose so your child does the thinking.
Teach-the-Cast noviceA character your child TEACHES says what it is still figuring out — “So a bigger bottom number means a bigger piece?” — for your child to correct. Your child is the teacher.
Confidence-Ledger coachA gentle, proactive nudge after two misses in a row — “Let’s slow down on temperature for a moment.” It never gives the answer.
Game-review coachAfter a saved game ends, a calm question about a turning point — “What was better here?” — asked between games, never during play, and only if your child opens the review.
Jagged-AI helperIn the AI-literacy activities, a deliberately fallible “AI helper” answer your child decides whether to trust — clearly labelled as the lesson, so children learn WHEN to check a machine.
Legend-or-Record panelA pretend info-bot mixes real facts with popular myths; your child judges each claim against the record — teaching that a confident machine can still be wrong.
What our AI will never do
✗ Never chats freely with your childThere is no open chat box. Every AI line is a hint, a question, or a labelled lesson tied to the activity on screen — never an open-ended conversation.
✗ Never hands over the answerThe tutor is built to withhold the answer — it asks a question or gives a faded hint. A separate, plain (non-AI) engine is what checks whether an answer is right, so the AI is never the judge of correctness.
✗ Never keeps or sends your child’s dataLearning progress lives on your child’s own device. Where an activity needs a server (for example, generating a study pack), the request is processed and thrown away — nothing about your child is stored on our side or used to train anything.
✗ Never pretends to be a friend or companionThe AI is a helper tied to a task or a character your child teaches — never a persona that asks to be your child’s friend. (This is exactly the “AI companion for kids” pattern that new laws are moving to ban.)
✗ Never connects your child to a strangerThere are no accounts and no public matchmaking. Playing together uses a private, code-shared room with preset messages only — no free-text chat, no way for a stranger to reach your child.
✗ Never shows ads or sells anythingNo ads, no tracking pixels, no data sold. The only thing on the page is the learning activity.