When Lu Qijun is busy, she places her phone on her son’s desk before he begins his homework. The camera is on—and it stays on. As her son slouches, a calm voice from the phone reminds him to sit up straight. When he fidgets with his pen, the voice instructs him to stop. And when his pace slows, it urges him to work faster. Ms. Lu, a television journalist in China’s southern province of Guangdong, is not in the room.
The voice belongs to Dola, a Chinese artificial intelligence chatbot developed by ByteDance, the company behind TikTok. Ms. Lu is among approximately 172 million monthly users of the app, according to Chinese statistic platform QuestMobile. In addition to monitoring homework, the app also functions as a tutor.
AI: A New Tool for Parents
On social media, Ms. Lu shares light-hearted videos of her son reacting to the chatbot’s instructions, attracting thousands of views from Chinese parents. The appeal, she notes, is not only convenience. As China’s economic growth slows, many families are reassessing their educational expenditures. Private tutoring, once a staple for China’s urban middle-class families, has become harder to justify, even as students continue to spend hours on schoolwork and extracurricular activities.
“Parents are anxious about spending heavily, only to end up with a ‘rotten-tail kid,'” she said, referring to a popular Chinese meme describing jobless young adults despite years of educational investment. The app allows Ms. Lu to upload trusted parenting books and study materials, tailoring its guidance to her son’s needs. Dola can check homework, explain incorrect answers, and generate similar questions based on mistakes. “It’s like having my own parenting bible,” she said. “Now I can read a book or answer messages while he is doing his homework.”
AI Used to Sidestep Conflict
In most Chinese schools, parents are expected to remain closely involved long after the school day ends. Homework and extra classes often fill the hours after school, with teachers assigning tasks and providing feedback through parent chat groups on social media platforms like WeChat. For many working families, the demands can be constant.
Most parents raising children today belong to the generation shaped by China’s one-child policy, needing to support four aging parents while raising their own children. In traditional family settings, mothers are expected to have a job, manage the household, and take primary responsibility for supervising children’s education after school.
Some parents say the app also helps them avoid conflict with their children. Wu Yuting from the central province of Henan has two children in primary school. She and her husband used to sit beside their children while they completed their homework, a routine that often ended in frustration. “They think I talk too much,” Ms. Wu said. The AI bot speaks to their children in a calm tone—a contrast to the tension that can easily build between parents and children after a long day.
“If parents use AI as part of children’s learning, they may be avoiding conflicts that need to be addressed,” said Dr. Qi Jing, an associate professor at the Social Equity Research Centre at RMIT University. “[Children’s] brains need conflict, struggle, and challenges to develop properly.”
A Tool, Not a Substitute
As AI becomes more widely used in education, learning-focused tools are attracting growing numbers of users. Data from QuestMobile shows Dola’s learning app, Dola Aixue, has about 8.76 million monthly active users. For parents like Ms. Lu, the technology remains a tool—used carefully and adjusted as needed. She limited how often it spoke, after finding too many prompts were distracting her son. “I only use it when I’m too busy … If I have time, I still prefer to sit with him,” she said, citing concerns about emotional reliance.
Elaine Zhou, a Shanghai-based mother who works in international education, said her two sons used AI tools to look up questions and check their homework. However, she remained cautious about AI-led supervision, expressing concerns about overuse, privacy, and exposure to content not suited for children. “For children, AI is highly efficient and easy to use,” Ms. Zhou said.
Drawing the Line
Experts say it’s essential to have clear boundaries. Dr. Qi Jing said artificial intelligence lacked the contextual understanding needed to replace the supervision of parents or teachers. “AI can certainly be used, depending on how.” She noted that behaviors such as playing with a pen or pausing briefly did not necessarily signal distraction but could be part of a child’s thinking process.
Jeannie Paterson, co-director of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne, said AI products designed for children should include limits on usage time, age-appropriate language, and safeguards against harmful content. Professor Paterson warned that excessive interaction with AI could weaken children’s engagement with the real world and hinder the development of essential social skills.
“Developers should monitor performance carefully for signs that the AI is not aligned with the best interests of the child,” she said. She also argued developers must be careful not to suggest to children that the technology was alive or had human emotions. “It can assist with some tasks but does not care or love the child.”
The move towards AI in education reflects broader societal shifts as families navigate economic pressures and evolving educational demands. As technology continues to integrate into daily life, the balance between convenience and caution remains a critical consideration for parents and educators alike.
