A Father Automates Voice Tutoring and Schooling with ChatGPT

Chris Domanski has built a system around ChatGPT to assist his two daughters with school. He uses it both as a vocal tutor for spelling and math, and as a digital secretary to organize information from the school. He claims it saves him time and helps him better focus study sessions, while remaining cautious about what will happen if the homework becomes more complex.

School Calendar: AI Extraction and .ics Export

To manage the flow of information related to his two school-aged children, Chris Domanski delegates part of the sorting to ChatGPT. Every Monday, he photographs flyers, calendars, permission forms, and class notices, then asks the AI to identify dates, deadlines, supplies, and items to follow up on. His instruction also includes adding relevant tasks to a calendar. ChatGPT exports the detected events in .ics format, which he imports into a school calendar in Outlook. Chris Domanski asserts that this process has not failed so far and appreciates avoiding the discovery at 8 PM of a project due the next day, along with the frantic search for requirements that follows.

Vocal Tutoring: Photos of Materials, Instructions, and Safeguards

On the learning side, he photographs the homework and entrusts the AI with explaining the concepts. In vocal mode, ChatGPT quizzes his daughters, varies the questions, revisits mistakes, and reformulates without impatience. Since both children have weekly assessments in math and spelling, he specifies to the AI the type of test they are preparing for, shares the study sheet, and asks it to maintain their attention despite interruptions. He frames the role of "tutor" and sets a goal: to continue until they provide answers with confidence and accuracy. Safeguards prevent digressions: the AI can show interest and relate potential side topics to the subject, but must remain focused on the task.

Reported Time Savings, Adjustments, and Uncertainties

Chris Domanski presents the AI as a study partner that saves him time and diffuses tense situations. He admits to having doubted the effort-benefit ratio at first and recounts that after five minutes, a conversation veered towards "KPop Demon Hunters," prompting him to revisit his settings. After some trial and error, he believes that the organization saves time and thinks his daughters' grades have improved, while remaining cautious about its effectiveness when the homework becomes more complex. According to him, the AI mainly helps to better utilize available time: the family reports spending less energy searching for information or decoding instructions, and more on carrying out projects, creating, playing, or simply having fun together.

Drawings: Image Requests and Rights-Free Alternatives

The family also utilizes the AI for creative activities, requesting images to reproduce with pencil or paint. A request combining Ariel and Elsa from Disney was rejected by the tool due to rights issues, Chris Domanski reports. He then requested a proposal without licensing constraints, such as a generic red-haired mermaid and a blonde ice princess, a solution that suited everyone. A few times a week, his daughters create crossovers of characters of their choice. Additionally, he relies on the AI to formulate drawing ideas, in addition to managing the school calendar.

Trigger and Profile: Two Students, One Developer Parent

At 41 years old, Chris Domanski explains that he developed specialized tutors in spelling and math after identifying weaknesses in the report cards of his two daughters, aged 8 and 6. One struggles with math and the other with reading; he assesses their results as possibly below the expectations of the school district. He has therefore built a voice-controlled ChatGPT model to quiz them and admits he does not feel best placed to detail certain programs, like TouchMath, which he says he discovered while helping them with their homework.