Safety & guardrails

Is an AI English tutor safe for my child?

ThinkOtter is designed as a bounded AI tutor for guided PSLE English comprehension practice. It is not an open chatbot: your child works from a passage, answers comprehension questions, and gets hints that point back to the text. The parent owns the account, and the report shows you strengths, where hints were needed, and question-type patterns after the session.

By design

What guardrails does ThinkOtter use?

The tutor is built for one job and kept inside clear lines.

✅ What the tutor does
  • Asks comprehension questions about the passage.
  • Gives hints that point back to specific lines.
  • Explains what a partial answer is missing.
  • Helps parents see strengths and gaps in the report.
🚫 What the tutor does not do
  • Act as an open chatbot on other topics.
  • Show your child the model answer during the attempt. The model answer is for the parent report.
  • Promise marks or replace a teacher's judgement.
  • Run ads, or sell anything to your child.
When things go off track

What happens when my child is stuck, unsure, or off-task?

ThinkOtter does not reward off-task answers or turn the session into open chat. If a child is playful, stuck, or gives a partial answer, the tutor redirects them to the passage, the line reference, and what the question needs.

Example based on an anonymised session
hi otter!
Let's stay focused, you're doing well. Look back at the first paragraph and find the word the question is asking for.

Off-task message, calm redirect to the passage. No shaming.

Example based on an anonymised session
I don't know
That's okay. This question asks for one word from lines 1 to 7. Look for a word that means a special yearly custom.

"I don't know", broken into a smaller, evidence-seeking step.

Example based on an anonymised session
They had little food.
You're on the right track, but that repeats the question. It asks how we know. What did the grandfather say his mother did before meals?

Partial answer, tutor asks for the missing evidence.

You stay in the loop

What you can see as a parent

Trust is not only safety, it is being able to check. After every session you can inspect what happened.

Attempts and resultsHow many questions, what your child tried, and where hints were needed.
Model answer and conversationThe session report shows the model answer beside your child's answer, plus the guided conversation.
Question types to practiseWhich of the comprehension question types need more work next.
See a sample parent report
Being straight with you

Where ThinkOtter draws the line

ThinkOtter is built to stay inside clear limits. Here is where those limits are.

  • Stays a practice tool for one subjectNever a babysitter or a stand-in for supervision.
  • Works alongside your teaching and your child's teacherNever instead of them.
  • Bounded to comprehension practiceIt will not act as an open chatbot, and every report is visible to you.

Your child's answers and privacy

Your child's answers stay private. Never sold, and never used by ThinkOtter to train AI models. They power your child's own session and the parent report. A parent owns the account. See how ThinkOtter protects children's data.

Safety questions

Safety, answered

No. ThinkOtter is a bounded tutor for guided PSLE comprehension practice. Your child works from a passage, answers comprehension questions, and gets hints that point back to the text. It does not hold open-ended conversations on other topics.
No. Your child is not shown the model answer during the attempt. The tutor gives staged hints that point back to the passage, guiding your child toward the answer before any final answer support is shown. The model answer is for the parent report. See how ThinkOtter marks open-ended answers.
The tutor reassures your child, breaks the question into a smaller evidence-seeking step, and keeps guiding your child back to the relevant lines until they can try again.
The tutor calmly redirects your child back to the passage and the question, without shaming them. It does not reward off-task messages or turn the session into open chat.
No. ThinkOtter does not use your child's answers to train AI models. They power your child's own session and the parent report. Your child's data is never sold. See how ThinkOtter protects children's data.
Yes. After each session, the full session report shows each question with attempts, the model answer beside your child's answer, and the guided conversation. The parent owns the account and can open the report afterward. See a sample parent report.
It is designed to do the opposite. Because hints come before answers and every answer needs evidence from the passage, your child builds the habit of reasoning first. The report shows you whether they are needing fewer hints over time.

The best way to judge it is to watch it.

See how ThinkOtter responds when a child is stuck, unsure, or just being playful.

See how ThinkOtter works
No ads · Built for Singapore's PSLE