A 13-year-old made $2,600 in 3 days with an AI app. The plot twist? She can’t code.
What if you had a good app idea but didn’t know how to code?
For 13-year-old Zhu Shuhan in China, that wasn’t a problem. She used AI to help turn an idea into a working app and made 18,000 yuan (about US$2,600) in just three days.
Yes. Just. 3. Days.Shuhan is a grade two student at a junior secondary school in Shanghai and had no programming background. She only started using AI last year.
Her app, called Zai Chang, was created to help parents keep their children focused while doing homework.
And she didn't just build it for fun.
She entered a national AI product marketing competition in Hangzhou from August 21 to 23, competing against more than 50 people.
Competing against more than 50 participants, Shuhan won third place and a 5,000-yuan cash prize at a national AI product marketing competition held in Hangzhou from August 21–23. Photo by: ce.cn
The unusual part? The winners weren't chosen based on technical skills.
Instead, participants were ranked by how much money their AI products made during the three-day competition. Shuhan's app received 90 orders and generated 18,000 yuan in sales, earning her third place and an additional 5,000-yuan prize.
So what does the app actually do?
Think of it as a virtual parent watching over your child while they study.
A parent uploads a photo of themselves and the app creates a virtual version that appears on screen. If the camera detects the child using their phone or leaving their seat, the virtual parent gives them a voice reminder to get back to studying. Once the session ends, the app generates a "concentration report" showing how focused the child was.
The idea actually came from Shuhan's own experience.
Her parents were often busy and couldn't always sit with her while she studied. She admitted that she would sometimes get distracted and secretly use her phone.
She also noticed many of her classmates had the same problem.
So she thought: Why not create a digital parent?
Competing against more than 50 participants, Shuhan won third place and a 5,000-yuan cash prize at a national AI product marketing competition held in Hangzhou from August 21–23. Photo by: ce.cn
She didn't write the code herself
Instead, Shuhan simply explained her idea to an AI model in her own words.
The AI helped generate the code, while she used AI programming tools whenever she ran into technical problems. From designing the app to getting its core features working, the whole process took just three to four days.
But there was one feature she decided to remove.
Her original design included a "mother getting angry" function that would alert parents when their child was frequently distracted.
Shuhan didn't like the idea.
"I dislike whistle-blowers," she explained, saying she wanted the app to be gentle and give children room to improve.
Her younger brother, a primary one student, became one of her first users. And according to Shuhan, he started studying more diligently after using it.
Now, she's thinking about turning the experiment into a real business. She wants to offer the app to more people at a lower price.
"If many people are willing to pay for this app, I will continue developing it," she said.
Online commenters were quick to praise the teenager, with one noting that she had both a creative idea and the ability to make good use of AI.
Another highlighted something even more important: she built an app around a problem parents are already willing to pay to solve.
And perhaps that's the bigger lesson here.
You don't necessarily need to know how to code to start building with AI anymore. Sometimes, you just need a good idea and the willingness to try it.
