When Xiaoyin Qu was growing up in China, she was obsessed with learning how to build paper airplanes that could do flips in the air. Her parents, though, didn’t have the aerodynamic expertise to support her newfound passion, and her teachers were too overwhelmed to give her dedicated attention. 

“That’s why I wanted to build an AI that can help provide every single kid with their own dedicated coach and playmate that can chat with them and help the kids learn,” Qu told TechCrunch.

Qu is the founder of Heeyo, a startup that offers children between the ages of three and 11 an AI chatbot and over 2,000 interactive games and activities, including books, trivia and role-playing adventures. Heeyo also lets parents and kids design their own AI and create new learning games tailored to family values and kids’ interests — something for kids to do instead of playing Minecraft and Roblox and watching endless YouTube videos.

Heeyo came out of stealth on Thursday with a $3.5 million seed round from OpenAI Startup Fund, Alexa Fund, Pear VC and other investors, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. Its app is now available on Android and iOS tablets and smartphones globally.

I know what you’re thinking. AI for kids sounds creepy — dangerous even. What precautions is Heeyo taking to ensure kids’ safety? How is it protecting children’s data? How will talking to an AI chatbot affect a child’s mental health?

Qu says safety is at the core of Heeyo’s product, from the way it handles data to how its chatbot engages with kids on sensitive issues to parental controls. And while the tech is still new, it does appear that Heeyo is taking the proper steps to make its app a healthy learning experience for kids and families. Based on my experience, the chatbot — which kids can play on their own or with siblings and parents — is supportive of emotional issues and always prompts kids with fun and interactive learning games.  

Going after the children’s market in a safe and engaging way also allows Heeyo to carve out a niche for itself that other companies might not want to touch.

“There are a billion kids that fall into our demographic right now, and as you can imagine, none of the Big Tech providers are actually supporting this age, whether it’s because they think it’s too much trouble, because they would have to be [COPPA] compliant, or because they think there may be less money in it,” said Qu. “But they’re not supporting those kids at all. So that’s a huge market.”

Qu noted that Heeyo is COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) compliant, so it immediately deletes children’s voice data and doesn’t store any of their demographics. Heeyo also doesn’t ask for a kid’s full name when signing them up, and never asks them for personal information.

For what it’s worth, I have been playing around on the platform this week, and the most intimate question the AI asked me was what I like to eat for breakfast. I told it I like black coffee, and the chatbot responded saying that was an interesting choice, but probably one that’s better suited for adults. 

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