Is AI the future of test prep?

“I really liked it because we can just use it at home instead of hiring a tutor,” said Esther Yi, a parent in Georgia who tried an early version of the platform. She found the R.test analysis particularly powerful. “My 10th grader will definitely benefit from this,” she said.

Oscar Torres, a Chicago high school math teacher who tried Riiid’s system, said he liked R.test because it assesses students’ knowledge in real time without relying on past test scores. “As AI develops, I see it becoming a better and stronger resource for us,” he said. “We need to solve problems in real time as teachers, and AI can help us immensely.”

But the company’s focus remains broader than test preparation. Mr. Jang said R.test is part of an effort to collect data and prove the effectiveness of its algorithms in other areas. Riiid researchers continue to develop new architectures and better AI models that can track student behavior, trace student knowledge, and select the best content to study at any time.

“Our algorithms can predict students’ test scores with surprising accuracy, a moving number that serves as a carrot of sorts,” he said. “The more students follow the algorithmic recommendations, the higher their predicted score will increase.”

Mr. Jang believes that soon teaching will no longer be based on guesswork or hunches, but on data. And that’s perhaps the company’s biggest challenge: Collecting that data, he added, is the bottleneck because privacy concerns make data collection in schools complicated. (Riiid says its apps don’t collect any personally identifiable information from users.)

To address these concerns, Riiid helped establish the EdSAFE AI Alliance, a global, cross-industry alliance of companies, nonprofits, and edtech associations to develop benchmarks. and standards to ensure the safe and responsible use of AI in education.