The student works in a book, with a pencil. A camera looks down at the page, a voice answers, and the screen stays dark.
Sign inLogins are given to the families who are testing it. There is no sign-up.
Nothing on the screen to read, tap or scroll. The work is on the desk, where it is at school and where it will be on the day of a test.
A camera on a stand looks straight down at the page. The student writes in the book or on scrap paper beside it.
The microphone opens while the bar is held and closes when it is let go. A tap means: look at my page.
The tutor points, asks, and puts a rule on the board when one is needed. It does not hand over an answer that has not been attempted.
After each session a short note arrives by email: what was worked on, how it went, and where it stuck.
These are the rules it was built to, and what each of them cannot promise.
The microphone is open only while the space bar is held down. No sound is recorded.
Every picture is checked for a face on the family's own computer before it goes anywhere. If one is found, the picture is blurred and is not sent. No check is perfect, so the camera points straight down.
A photo of the page is sent to the AI to be read. The Desk Tutor does not save it.
A question that is not about the work is not answered. It is passed to the parent, in the student's own words.
The tutor is an AI. It can misread a page, and when it cannot read one it says so and asks.
During a session the screen is dark. It shows one light, a small picture of what the camera sees, and a board when a rule or a worked example is needed.
Nothing is installed. The tutor opens in the browser.
The Desk Tutor is being tried by a small number of families, by invitation. While it is tested, the administrator reads the note and a written record of each session in order to find its faults. Each family is shown this in full, and agrees to it, the first time it signs in.