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KJ, Shahril discuss parental guidance in AI digital education
ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) is becoming part of how children study, explore ideas and complete their homework.
For families, the challenge lies in deciding whether it is helping a child learn or simply producing an answer before the child has time to think.
Parents have already spent years weighing screen time and access to social media. AI adds another layer because the same tool that supplies instant answers can also help children practise languages, create games and develop ideas.
Kelas Sekejap co-founders, including former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin and former economic director at the Prime Minister’s office Shahril Hamdan, have taken different approaches with their own children. During the platform’s recent Sembang Sekejap event in Ampang, both agreed children must retain control over how the technology is used.
Learning with a co-pilot
Khairy’s 11-year-old son currently avoids AI because he sees it as a shortcut. He can also recognise when his father has used the technology to help with homework.
“My youngest son is 11 and he doesn’t use it as a matter of choice. He thinks that it’s a shortcut. If I use it to help him with his homework, he’ll know that I used AI. To me, that’s good,” Khairy said.
Khairy expects to encourage his son to use AI eventually. However, the child must continue doing the thinking and making the decisions behind his work.
“The best way to describe it is a co-pilot rather than a pilot and you become a passenger. That’s the danger. You don’t want your child to be a passenger and the AI to be the pilot,” he said.
His approach leaves room for AI while preventing it from completing every difficult task. Children still need to read, question information and work through problems instead of accepting the first response generated for them.
Using AI for imagination
Shahril has introduced AI to his eight-year-old daughter through creative projects. She recently used it to build a game involving dolls, developing the idea through voice and written prompts.
“She is not using AI to give her facts yet. You know, that’s something I’m trying to guard against for now. She’s using it to apply her imagination,” he told theSun.
Creating the game required his daughter to explain what she wanted and refine her instructions. Shahril believes the experience helped her articulate a vision while becoming familiar with technology she will encounter throughout her life.
“For now, it’s about unleashing her imagination,” he said.
Shahril is prepared to restrict her access to phones and social media until she is 15 or 16. His view of AI continues to develop as he observes its creative possibilities alongside concerns surrounding accuracy, ethics and excessive use.
“All of us have to be very considerate about not just how many hours we let them use it but what we let them use it for,” he said.
He also believes the values guiding a child should continue to come from parents, their community, personal reflection and for some families, religion.
“Wherever your values come from, it shouldn’t come from a machine. Then you use the machine to check whatever you produce against that set of values that you have predetermined,” he said.
Learning through conversation
Those ideas form part of Kelas Sekejap’s approach to AI-assisted learning. Launched publicly in January, the platform began as a conversational English app and has attracted more than 15,000 registered learners, according to the company.
Users speak directly to an AI tutor and receive feedback on their grammar, vocabulary and sentence construction. The conversations are personalised according to their interests, allowing someone to practise English through subjects such as sports, technology, travel or current affairs.
The app can also simulate situations such as job interviews, workplace discussions and conversations a user may be nervous about having. Its purpose is to provide repeated speaking practice without the fear of making mistakes in front of another person.
Kelas SPM extends the system to Form One to Form Five students through speaking and listening exercises aligned with the national syllabus. The programme is used in several schools in Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca.
Teachers can use information gathered from the exercises to identify areas where students require additional help.
The platform is intended to provide practice outside class while teachers concentrate on discussion, critical thinking and individual guidance.
A free version is available, while the paid subscription costs about RM30 a month. Shahril said families could use it alongside physical tuition or as a lower-cost alternative.
Kelas Sekejap currently uses individual accounts and does not offer a dedicated parent-child system giving adults separate access to learning progress or conversation history. Shahril acknowledged the feature had not previously been considered and said it could be explored as the platform develops.
As AI becomes more involved in learning, such controls may become as relevant to parents as the lessons themselves.
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