Former Chinese product manager builds AI tutor for her daughter using ChatGPT

A 46-year-old former product manager in China has built her own AI-powered English tutor and homework monitor using ChatGPT, part of a broader movement of non-programmers creating custom tools driven by the fear of technological obsolescence.

Congcong, who closely tracks emerging AI models and applications, worries that others will master these technologies before she does. She first developed a spoken English training agent for herself and her daughter, then created a bot to track her child's homework and breaks.

Anxiety fueling AI adoption

The phenomenon reflects growing anxiety across China as technology reshapes both professional and personal spheres. Non-programmers in increasing numbers are now developing their own AI applications, with generative AI and agent technologies lowering the barrier to entry by making coding capabilities accessible to ordinary users.

Mainland media outlet Jizhou Studio profiled three such non-programmers who have built their own tools. AI courses and side-hustle tutorials have saturated social media platforms across the mainland as employers raise expectations for workers to demonstrate AI literacy. At the same time, enrolment and interest in humanities programmes at Chinese universities are declining.

The central paradox

These parallel trends illuminate a fundamental contradiction of the AI era: as artificial intelligence grows more capable, humans face intensifying pressure to identify and perform the tasks that remain uniquely theirs. While some level of AI-related anxiety can foster useful vigilance, experts suggest that workers should prioritize adaptability over attempting to chase every new technological advancement.

The shift marks a departure from traditional technology adoption patterns, where specialized skills remained the province of trained programmers. Now, anxiety about being left behind serves as both motivator and teacher for ordinary users venturing into tool development.

Source: South China Morning Post