Surrey teacher creates AI learning tool for schools across UK
RileyBot is already having a positive impact on children across the country, according to the creator
An English teacher in Surrey has created new AI technology to help support learning in schools across the UK.
The ground-breaking software acts as a virtual teaching assistant in classrooms, providing extra support to pupils at home and at school.
Adam Webster is the developer of RileyBot and Deputy Head at Caterham School in Surrey.
He said: “RileyBot is the first AI chatbot designed specifically for schools. Unlike traditional chatbots, which give the user the fastest possible route to the answer, we reworked the whole concept to try and make RileyBot behave like a teacher. When you ask RileyBot, something like, ‘can you write me an essay’ - it will say ‘no, but I will help you structure an essay’.
“We are leveraging all the really amazing things about AI, like access to all this information, but without taking away that really fundamental need for children to struggle with their learning. Because when they struggle to learn something, that's how it sticks. We don't want to lose that.”
He continued: “We were originally rolling out ChatGPT at my school and we had done that carefully, quite successfully. But we were seeing a couple of problems. One being that you don't really have a lot of oversight of what gets plugged into ChatGPT, and that from a school's perspective is not great for keeping children safe. So, we really wanted to resolve that bit.
“You can ask it as many questions as you like, in any which way you can imagine until it gives you what you need. So, you can get yourself unstuck and move on with your learning. And I think that builds real confidence in children, which is so important.
“We've been doing some initial research with the schools that have got RileyBot, and it has had a really positive impact on what's called pupil efficacy, which basically means a child's ability to keep their learning moving forwards on their own accord. I think that was exactly why we designed RileyBot, so that children can build confidence, get themselves unstuck when they're struggling with their learning and make progress. The fact that we're already seeing that is just really, really exciting.”