Can kids learn to read with AI?

By Jordan Urbs · Updated August 2026

It started with bedtime books.

My son and I make picture books together with AI — he tells me the story of his gecko character world while I record his voice; we transcribe the voice memo, the machine illustrates it, and the books end up on glasspals.com for other people's bedtimes.

It's the most fun I've ever had building anything.

After we created 3 episodes, I realized he had an attachment and affinity to this world he'd created (and after all, why shouldn't he?). He's at the age where he's learning his letters and sounds, but is resistant to the usual workbooks and schoolwork (boring). So that's when I had the idea to use his own little world to teach him things.

So the books grew a sibling: Read with Glass, a phonics game. Letter sounds first, then blending them into words, then little stories made only of words a kid can already sound out.

It's free. No ads. No account. English and eventually Spanish (soon). It runs in the browser, and progress stays on that device.

(There's a second game too: glasspals.com/play/, for when the reading one feels too much like homework. This is pure innocent video game fun... and easier than the original Mario Bros.)

What did the AI actually do?

"I built it with AI" can mean anything these days. So, the precise split:

I built the machinery, so to speak; my son is the creative director. AI did the typing.

(Cheap labor, that.)

The letter-sound order, the blending progression, which words show up when: that's the human-chosen part, the same phonics-first approach every decent reading program uses. The code, the art, the fifty small fixes after my son found fifty small ways to break it... that's where the machine earned its keep.

I used Claude Code to put it together, using Venice for the art. The first version of this game was literally created in an afternoon. The longest part was finding the right voice and getting the phonics sounds right.

Is it safe for kids?

Yes, and I'd rather show you than reassure you: no account, no ads, no chatbot, no tracking of your kid. Nothing they do in the game leaves the device... not even to me.

It's letters and sounds, not a conversation. There's nothing in it that can talk back.

What did it cost?

I built it with subscriptions I pay for anyway for my work, so I look at the investment solely from the perspective of time.

And for your children to use it, it also costs nothing. It's free because I own it... there's no company behind it, no investors, no growth targets, nobody to answer to if it doesn't "convert."

(There IS a club page for parents who want to support the project... but it isn't open yet. The buttons don't even work.)

For me: it's a weekend hustle. I'm doing this for my son and any other kids who resonate with it; but truthfully anyone can start building things like this for their kids now. It's never been easier.

Can AI teach a kid to read?

Honestly? No. And I say that as the guy who built one.

AI built the tool. My son and I do the reading. The game holds the drill; I sit next to him; he decides it's worth figuring out. Machine drills, human decides. That split is the whole design.

After a week he outgrew the first level. Whether he's actually learning to read or simply memorizing the sounds is something I want to implement in the next version (a microphone that makes him repeat what he's learning in order to move onto the next level).

(This is about the moment when I realize I will forever be upgrading this project.)

When should kids learn to read?

I don't know, and I'm not a reading teacher. Every kid is different, and anyone who gives you a single number is selling something.

What I can tell you is what we did: followed the sounds when he was curious about letters, and kept it short enough that he asked to play again tomorrow.