This 13-year-old made $2,600 from an AI app in 3 days
A Shanghai student with no programming background turned a homework problem into a paid AI study companion during a marketing competition.
She had no programming background, but she had a problem to solve. A 13-year-old student from Shanghai, Zhu Shuhan, has reportedly earned 18,000 yuan, or about $2,600, in three days with an AI-powered study app designed to help parents keep an eye on children during homework.
The interesting part is not the money. Shuhan had no programming background and started using AI only last year. Yet she managed to turn an everyday problem into a working product and, more importantly, get people to pay for it.
Meet the virtual parent
Her app, called Zai Chang, or “On Site”, takes a slightly unusual approach to homework supervision. A parent uploads a photo of themselves, which the app turns into a virtual parent displayed on screen.
While the child studies, the system uses a camera to detect behaviours such as getting up from the seat or using a mobile phone. If the child gets distracted, the virtual parent delivers a voice reminder. Once the session is over, the app creates a concentration report.
It is basically a digital version of the parent saying, “Are you actually studying?” The idea targets a familiar problem. Parents may want to supervise homework but cannot always sit beside their children for hours. Shuhan’s app tries to provide a little help without requiring the parent to be physically present.
She won money by making money
Shuhan presented Zai Chang at a national AI product marketing competition in Hangzhou from August 21 to August 23, 2026. More than 50 people participated, and she won third prize along with a 5,000-yuan cash award.
But the competition had an unusual way of deciding its winners. Instead of having technical experts judge the quality of the code, participants had to prove that people were actually willing to buy their products.
Zai Chang received 90 orders and generated 18,000 yuan in sales during the three-day competition.
That helped Shuhan take third place. In other words, the judges were less interested in how clever the technology looked and more interested in whether someone would actually pay for it.
The bigger lesson is not about coding
Shuhan’s story is another example of how AI is changing the starting line for young builders. You no longer necessarily need years of programming experience to turn an idea into a prototype. But AI cannot magically solve the whole product problem.
Someone still needs to spot a useful problem, understand what people want and turn the idea into something they are willing to use. There are also obvious questions around privacy and safety. The app uses cameras to monitor children, so parental consent, responsible data handling and clear boundaries around surveillance matter.
Still, the bigger takeaway is pretty exciting. For the next generation of young entrepreneurs, the first step may not be learning to code. It may simply be noticing a problem and asking AI, “Can we build something for this?”