Recently the New York Times reported the following:
China’s Parents Are Outsourcing the Homework Grind to
A.I. (1/2)
Parents in China are turning to A.I. chatbots and other
tools to help their children gain an edge and ease the fighting over homework.
The NYT - By Vivian Wang and Jiawei Wang - Vivian Wang reported
from Beijing. Jiawei Wang reported from Seoul.
March 2, 2026
Across China, where education is famously cutthroat, parents
are turning to artificial intelligence to gain a competitive edge. Some are
making interactive learning games or using chatbots to grade their children’s
homework. Others are using A.I.-powered gadgets to get past a language barrier.
Their eagerness to experiment is one example of how Chinese
users are embracing A.I. for learning, even as many in the United States worry
that it feeds students misinformation or erodes critical thinking. This
cultural rift is backed by data: A 2025 global survey led by the services firm
KPMG found that more than 90 percent of Chinese said they felt optimistic about
the technology, compared to just over 50 percent in the United States.
The enthusiasm in China has fueled a sprawling, often
unchecked, marketplace for educational technology that is worth more than $43
billion by some estimates, and where gimmicks and exaggerated marketing are
common. Yet for some families, the tools are providing genuine relief. Three
parents shared videos of their routines, showing how A.I., while imperfect, has
made parenting and teaching their children a little easier.
As a mother of two with a full-time public relations job,
Zheng Wenqi, 42, had little time to practice English herself, let alone teach
her children. She knew her 9-year-old son needed more conversational experience
but didn’t know where to turn.
“There just wasn’t an opportunity for him to start talking,”
said Ms. Zheng, who lives in northern China’s Heilongjiang Province.
Then she saw a livestream promoting a gadget she could wear
to make her conversant in English.
It has two parts: a mask that covers her mouth, and a
speaker that hangs around her neck. Ms. Zheng speaks Chinese into the mask,
which also muffles her voice. Then, a translation comes out of the speaker. She
began wearing it around the house, for 30 to 60 minutes a day.
The roughly $375 device, called Native Language Star, draws
on speech and language models developed by several Chinese technology firms,
according to the company, based in Shenzhen, that makes the device.
Ms. Zheng said the translations were sometimes stiff. But
she said that after about a month, her son was speaking more confidently and
initiating conversations.
Ms. Zheng also uses the device with her 5-year-old daughter,
who had never learned English before. The child can now describe daily tasks,
like getting dressed and putting her shoes on.
“We say, ‘Now is English time, let’s all speak in English,’
and I’ll put that thing on,” Ms. Zheng said. “And then they just say whatever
they know.”
A Chatbot With ‘Eyes’
Li Linyun, a stay-at-home mother, used to fight with her
10-year-old daughter, Weixiao, over her studies.
Now Ms. Li has delegated supervision of Weixiao’s schoolwork
to an A.I. chatbot.
“It’s a 24-hour online teacher, and it’s knowledgeable and
extremely patient,” said Ms. Li, who lives in Hunan Province, in central China.
Ms. Li uses Doubao, China’s most popular A.I. chatbot, which
was created by ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. It has a camera
function, which parents refer to as Doubao’s “eyes.” People can use it to learn
more about their surroundings, for instance by asking Doubao to identify plants
or give more details about museum artifacts. (ChatGPT has a similar function
for paying users; Doubao’s is free.)
After more experimentation, Ms. Li learned that Doubao could
explain grammar rules better than she ever could.
Weixiao said she liked that she could ask Doubao to repeat
explanations as many times as she needed, while her teachers moved on quickly.
“It explains in more detail, so I can understand,” she said.
Ms. Li also began asking Doubao to grade completed homework
assignments by uploading a photo to the app.
The chatbot identifies wrong answers and corrects them, Ms.
Li said, though it sometimes makes mistakes.
The camera can also monitor Weixiao’s posture. But Ms. Li
said she rarely used that feature, because her daughter didn’t like the feeling
of being watched.
Ms. Li said she wasn’t worried about feeding so much footage
of Weixiao to the chatbot. In the social media age, “we don’t have a lot of
privacy anyway,” she said.
And the benefits were more than worthwhile. She no longer
had to spend hundreds of dollars a month on English tutoring, and Weixiao’s
grades had improved. “It makes educational resources more equitable for
ordinary people,” Ms. Li said.
Her relationship with Weixiao had improved, too, she said.
“To ease tensions in a parent-child relationship, you can’t spend too much time
on homework,” she said. “Just encouraging her is enough.”
(to be continued)
Translation
中國家長正將家庭作業外判給人工智能（1/2）
中國的家長們正轉向人工智能聊天機器人和其他工具，幫助孩子在學習上取得優勢，並減少因家庭作業而起的爭執
在中國，教育競爭異常激烈，家長正轉向人工智能以獲得競爭優勢。有些家長會製作互動式學習遊戲，或使用聊天機器人批改孩子的作業。另一些家長則使用人工智能設備來克服語言障礙。
他們樂於嘗試，這正是中國用戶接受人工智能用於學習的一個例子，雖然許多美國人擔心人工智能會向學生灌輸錯誤訊息或削弱批判性思考。這種文化差異有數據佐證：畢馬威會計師事務所（KPMG）主導的一項2025年全球調查發現，超過90%的中國人對這項技術持樂觀態度，而美國祇有略高於50%的人持相同看法。
中國的熱情催生了一個龐大且往往缺乏監管的教育科技市場，據估計，該市場價值超過430億美元，各種噱頭和誇張的行銷手段層出不窮。然而，對一些家庭來說，這些工具確實帶來了實質的幫助。三位家長分享了他們的日常視頻，展示了人工智能雖然並不完美，但確實讓他們的育兒和教育工作變得輕鬆了一些。
42歲的Zheng
Wenqi是一位有兩個孩子的母親，同時也從事全職的公關工作。她幾乎沒有時間自己練習英語，更別提教孩子練習了。她知道自己9歲的兒子需要更多的口語練習，但不知該向誰練習說英語。
住在中國北方的黑龍江省的Zheng女士說道:「他根本沒有機會開口說英語」。
後來，她看到一個直播，推廣一款可以穿戴的電子設備，幫助她學習英語。
這款裝置由兩個部分組成：一個遮住嘴部的面罩和一個掛在脖子上的揚聲器。Zheng女士對著面罩說中文，面罩也會降低她的聲音。然後，揚聲器會播放翻譯。她開始每天在家裡戴它30到60分鐘。
根據生產這款設備的公司介紹，這款名為「母語之星」（Native
Language Star）的設備售價約為375美元，其語音和語言模型由多家中國科技公司共同開發，生產公司位於深圳。
Zheng女士說，翻譯有時略顯生硬。但她說，大約一個月後，她的兒子開始自信地用英語交流，並主動發起對話。
Zheng女士還用這款設備教她5歲的女兒，女兒之前從未學過英語。這女孩現在可以描述一些日常活動，例如穿衣服和穿鞋。
Zheng女士說: 「我們會說，『現在是英語時間，大家一起說英語吧！』然後我會戴上那個東西」; 「之後他們就會說他們知道的英語了」。
擁有「眼睛」的聊天機械人
全職媽媽Li
Linyun以前常常因為10歲的女兒Weixiao的學習而和她吵架。
現在，Li女士把Weixiao的作業的輔導委託給了人工智能聊天機械人。
居住在中國中部湖南省的Li女士說:「它就像一位24小時線上老師，知識淵博，而且非常有耐心」。
Li女士使用的是豆寶 (Doubao)，這是中國最受歡迎的人工智能聊天機械人，由TikTok的母公司位元組跳動 (ByteDance)開發。它有一個攝影機功能，家長稱之為豆寶的「眼睛」。人們可以利用它來了解更多周圍環境的信息，例如讓豆寶識別植物或提供更多關於博物館藏品的細節。 （ChatGPT
為付費用戶提供類似功能；豆寶的功能是免費的。）
經過更多嘗試，Li女士發現豆寶講解語法規則比她自己講得更好。
Weixiao說她很喜歡可以不停地重複讓豆寶講解，而老師們講得很快。 她說:“它講得更詳細，所以我能理解”。
Li女士也開始讓豆寶批改完成的作業，只需將照片上傳到應用程式即可。
Li女士說，聊天機械人可以識別錯誤答案並進行糾正，儘管它有時也會出錯。
攝影機還可以監控Weixiao的舉動。但Li女士說她很少使用這個功能，因為她女兒不喜歡被監視的感覺。
Li女士說，她並不擔心把Weixiao的那麼多影像資料給聊天機械人。她說，在社群媒體時代，「我們本來就沒太多隱私可言」。
同時，這樣做的好處顯而易見。她不用再每月花幾百美元請英文家教了，Weixiao的成績也提高了。Li女士說: 「這讓一般人更容易獲得教育資源」。
她還說，她和Weixiao的關係也改善了。 她又說:“要緩解親子關係緊張，不能在作業上花太多時間”，“鼓勵她就足夠了。”
（待續）
