"No coding needed, 3.7 million won in three days": 13-year-old in China builds AI study app

[Financial News] A 13-year-old middle school student in Shanghai, China, used artificial intelligence (AI) to build a study management application without any programming experience and generated 18,000 yuan, or about 3.7 million won, in sales in just three days. The app lets users upload photos of parents and then creates a virtual parent on screen to monitor a child's study habits and generate concentration reports.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Aug. 31, Zhu Shuhan, a second-year middle school student in Shanghai, took part in the National AI Product Marketing Competition held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, from Aug. 21 to 23. He created an AI study management app called "Zhaichang" and finished third in the competition.
SCMP reported that Zhu had never learned programming and only began using AI last year. More than 50 participants entered the competition, and Zhu received a third-place prize of 5,000 yuan, or about 1 million won.
The competition format also differed from a typical development contest. Rather than having a technical panel evaluate the app's completeness, rankings were determined by sales performance of the AI products created by participants over the three-day event.
"Zhaichang" received 90 orders during the competition. Total sales reached 18,000 yuan, or about 3.7 million won. That performance secured Zhu's third-place finish.
The app creates a virtual parent on the screen based on photos uploaded by parents. While a child is doing homework, a camera monitors the child's study habits, and if the child looks at a phone or gets up from the desk, the virtual parent gives a verbal warning. Once the homework is finished, the app also generates a report summarizing the child's level of concentration.
Zhu said he came up with the idea from his own experience. He explained that his parents were busy and could not always stay with him while he studied, and that he himself sometimes secretly looked at his phone or lost focus while doing homework. Seeing that his classmates faced similar difficulties, he wanted to create an app that would act as a "digital parent."
AI tools were used to develop the app. Zhu described the functions he wanted in simple language to a large language model, which helped generate the code. When technical problems arose during development, he solved them by asking the AI programming tool again. SCMP said it took about three to four days to implement the core functions.
The initial version also included a feature that notified parents when a child repeatedly behaved in a distracted way. Zhu later removed that function. He said he wanted to build an app that encouraged children gently rather than punishing them or making them feel like they were being reported on.
Zhu said the app development experience changed the way he viewed AI. He said, "I realized that if you have a good idea, AI can turn it into reality."
[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter