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"Knock knock! Now you say, who's there?"

Silent staring

"Can you say, who’s there?"

"Yes."

"Okay, say it. Knock knock!"

"Knock knock!"

"No, you say, who’s there?"

"Who’s there?"

"Orange. Now you say, orange who?"

"sayorangeu?"

"Orange you glad I didn't say banana? 😃”

Silent staring

"Okay, let's start from the beginning. Knock knock!"

"Orange."

Teaching young kids isn’t easy. It requires skill, patience, and lots of creativity. I have the utmost respect for early childhood educators and homeschool parents.

Since the orange session, however, we've made progress, and I'd like to share a knock-knock joke of my child's own creation:

"Ammi! Knock knock!"

"Who’s there?

"Bunny rabbit screaming."

"Bunny rabbit screaming who?"

"aooooooowwaaaaaaOoooooEEWHHAHhahaha"

🌿 Let’s grow!

Planting the Seed:
explore AI topics and headlines in simple language.

In January, I had the pleasure of meeting Radwa Hamed and Rex Duval, the co-founders of Nookly, at the Common Sense Media Summit in San Francisco.

I loved learning about their backgrounds, the story behind their app, and the app itself, so I was delighted when they agreed to share their unique insights with the ammi.ai community!

Today, we’ll learn how Radwa and Rex’s paths converged and led them to co-found Nookly. We’ll also learn their perspectives on building safe, quality AI for a particularly challenging demographic: children!

Radwa and Rex on Educational Storytelling + AI

Get to know Radwa and Rex

Ruqaiya: How would you fill in this blank to describe your relationship with AI? __________.ai

Radwa: If I had to choose one word, I would say intentional. I've been working with machine learning since 2015, and I've noticed that some applications are done without thinking deeply about the implications. So, I try to be very intentional, especially if you're giving autonomy to something beyond a human.

Rex: For me, I think the word would be superpower. Superpowers can be used for good to help people and make the world better. But villains also have superpowers, so, as the cliche goes, with great power comes great responsibility.

Ruqaiya: Could you share a bit about your paths in life and work up to this point?

Rex: I come from a very creative family - my grandpa is a dancer, my grandma is a dancer and singer, and my sister is an actress. Everyone just stole all my talent!

Having permission to think outside the box was embedded early on. Also, my dad is a nonprofit founder, so I saw entrepreneurship - creating something and taking ownership of it - modeled by him.

I started a business in college, making an ankle therapy product. Though it wasn’t the global success we envisioned, it was my first early experience with entrepreneurship. After college, I joined a SaaS startup and then did public sector consulting, but I missed the startup pace. When I applied to business school, I knew entrepreneurship would interest me.

Radwa: Growing up, I was obsessed with everything childhood-related— I loved Disney and Harry Potter. In fact, my wedding was Harry Potter-themed! The only thing missing was that I couldn't see myself represented in those characters and stories. I always thought: it could be better; we can do better. I knew I wanted to work on something that impacted childhood one way or the other and also work very closely with emotions.

I studied Computer and Electronics Engineering at the American University of Cairo, where I was initially exposed to AI and machine learning. I figured I’d just join Microsoft and be one of the great engineers who builds iconic apps like Microsoft Word. But after interning at Google a few times, I realized I wanted to work at a smaller company with more impact. I had the opportunity to work at a startup based out of Boston, and the CEO was Egyptian which was pretty inspiring.

I then joined Stanford, where I focused on building impactful products and then learned how to take products to market.

The ‘Spark’ that Started Nookly

Ruqaiya: Wow, very distinct paths, and now I would love to know how your paths converged! How did you two meet, and what was the spark that ignited Nookly? Did the idea behind Nookly come first, or did y’all meet each other and then come up with Nookly?

Rex: A few years ago, I was home with my wife Micah, who was in a doctorate program for clinical psychology. She works with young kids and was frustrated preparing a "social story" for a young patient the next day. These stories engage kids and facilitate learning, but the tools for creating them were really time-consuming for her, especially finding characters that looked like her diverse patients.

I reached out to a friend at Stanford who suggested talking to Radwa, who loved storytelling and had great technical expertise. We had an initial conversation in November 2021 about how to make this process faster, more accessible, and higher quality.

Ruqaiya: Finding a trusted partner to build a business with is kind of a huge deal. What made you realize you wanted to commit to starting and building Nookly together?

Radwa: Rex and I just clicked from the first few calls - same sense of humor. But I was especially driven by his focus on the impact for the users - how much this could change the lives of kids who are struggling with achieving milestones and relieve pressure on overwhelmed parents.

On the product side, my background is in human memory and perception - my thesis even involved storing my mom's voice in a necklace to help with isolation during COVID. So, the idea of personalizing content for families and providing a sense of security and groundedness for children really gets me fired up.

Rex: Something really important to me from my earlier entrepreneurship experience was doing it with someone I could launch with and didn't take themselves too seriously because I certainly don't take myself too seriously. Radwa and I bonded over being vulnerable with each other, too. We share core values that we've been able to discuss openly. But the sense of humor was the immediate connection.

Fruitful Harvest:
fresh AI fruits from the community garden.

Happy birthday to ‘The Children of AI’ 🎂 

I have a teenie bit of homework for you. But first, a little story.

One year ago, I was working at an AI software company called Dataiku, closely following the booming generative AI software market. For the first time, I felt the developments I was following at work would impact my personal life more than my professional life.

I craved information about the impact of increasingly powerful AI on my young loved ones—my children, nieces, nephews, and friends' kids born alongside these technologies.

Then, a piece called Children of AI was published. It was the thought leadership I sought, unlike anything I'd read before. Serendipitously, it was written by Dataiku's CEO, Florian Douetteau!

To some, this subject from an industry-leading AI company CEO might seem surprising.

Not to me. Several of my chats with Florian coincided with my returns from maternity leave, discussing how to elongate a newborn’s sleep stretches and the American Potty Training Industrial Complex.

After reading it, I thanked Florian for his 'thoughtful' leadership. Many parents wonder what the future holds for their kids, and I was very grateful to have someone with an indisputably strong vision for AI map out what the future might look like.

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of interviewing Florian about the piece and the process of writing it. Along the way I learned how his childhood and fatherhood shaped his journey to becoming a technologist shaping our AI future. And, of course, I asked my favorite question: 'What's in your tech stack?'

If you're an Ammi, a Papa (as his children call him), or anyone curious about the future of humanity in this age of AI, I highly recommend reading the essay. We’ll be publishing Florian’s interview in a special Father’s Day edition of ammi.ai, so you have plenty of time to read and ruminate!

I’m excited to hear what y’all think about it - let’s start a conversation!

Thanks for spending a few of your precious, precious minutes with us.

See y’all soon!
Ruqaiya
Ammi by day, Ammi by night