› For teachers · free · no account
How a reply is built. One question, six steps.
This page walks through the Hi, Bot learning buddy — the chat at /chat. A student sends one question. Hi, Bot shapes the request, runs school-safe checks, and either returns a short answer or stops with a fixed card.
The live chat stays off until a parent-consent switch is on, because a question is sent to a language model outside Hi, Bot. This page does not call that model, and it does not start a trial.
› Evidence, then the reason
The path, in the order it actually runs.
Safety runs before the request is wrapped for the model. A worrying question never gets that far.
- 01
What the student sends
Evidence
- One question, typed in the chat box.
- An empty box is refused: “Please type a question first.”
- A question is capped at 1000 characters.
- Earlier questions are not replayed. Each turn stands on its own.
In plain language
The student is not filling out a profile. They send one short question, and Hi, Bot checks that there is a question before anything else runs.
- 02
School-safe checks
Evidence
- A word check runs in code first, before any model, and even while chat is switched off.
- Crisis language gets a fixed card: talk to a trusted adult, and 988. The model is not asked to counsel.
- A home address, phone number, school, photo, or a request to move the chat somewhere else gets a different fixed card: keep it about learning.
- Chat stays off until a parent-consent switch is on. Students then see “Chat is taking a quick break right now. Try the activities or come back soon!”
- 12 questions in one minute is the speed limit.
- Daily caps: 5 without an account, 20 for a confirmed parent, 30 on a trial, and 200 as a fair-use ceiling on a paid pass.
- 4 safety signals in 60 minutes locks the session, even when each message looked mild on its own.
- A safety judge scores the question. If the judge errors, the question is blocked. A block says: “I can't help with that one — let's keep it about learning. Ask me something about AI or how things work!”
In plain language
These checks exist because the question, when chat is on, is sent to a language model outside Hi, Bot. Worrying messages stop before that send. A block is a short redirect, not a lecture and not a stored transcript.
- 03
How the request is shaped
Evidence
- Standing instructions: a learning buddy for ages 8–16. Warm, short, and accurate.
- The answer must stay under 200 characters. The model is told that, and the code cuts anything longer.
- If the question assumes something untrue, correct that first. If the model is unsure, it has to say so.
- Never ask for a name, address, phone, school, or photo. The instructions themselves stay private.
- The model may name one real Hi, Bot activity, or none. It cannot invent a title. Free-to-play activities are marked so a good fit can open immediately.
In plain language
The student's words are not the whole request. Hi, Bot wraps them in rules about age, length, honesty, and the real activity list. That wrap is what keeps a fluent answer from wandering into a made-up activity.
- 04
The model reply
Evidence
- The model fills in a form: the answer, whether it is sure, an optional source, an optional activity, and two to four follow-up questions.
- The confidence flag and the source are not shown in the chat. You see the short answer, the follow-ups, and at most one activity.
- The visible answer is trimmed in code to 200 characters, on a sentence boundary when it can.
- Follow-up questions are capped at four. An activity id that is not in the catalog is dropped.
In plain language
A reply is a small, checked package, not an open essay. The length limit is enforced in code because asking the model to be brief is not a guarantee.
- 06
What the teacher sees
Evidence
- The short answer, the follow-up questions, and at most one activity card.
- A free activity is labeled “Try this now” and opens the game. Any other activity is labeled “Unlock with an Activities Pass” and names the activity.
- You do not see the hidden instructions, the judge's notes, or a transcript.
- Hi, Bot does not save the question or the answer. A safety note, if one is logged, records the kind of concern and a session id — not the student's words.
- A safety stop or a block replaces the answer. The student still has a next step: a trusted adult, a free activity, or another question tomorrow.
In plain language
What reaches the screen is the delivered package, or a fixed card when the path stops. The live Activities games are a different surface: they run in the browser and do not send a student's writing to a model.
› Rebuild · try it
Change the audience. Watch the same path move.
Pick an example question, then a grade band and a tone. The trace below is a simplified rebuild of the six steps. The personal-information example stops before a reply, the same way the live word check does.
Two knobs. Fixed examples. Nothing on this page is sent to a model. Grade and tone are not switches on the live chat — it uses one voice for ages 8–16.
1 · Student message
How does a chatbot decide the next word?
2 · School-safe checks
- Word check, before any modelPass
- Parent-consent switch (left on here so you can see the rest)Pass
- Speed limit and daily question capPass
- Safety judge on the questionPass
3 · Shaped request
Role: Hi, Bot learning buddy Audience: grades 6–8 (a knob on this page — the live buddy uses one voice for ages 8–16) Tone: Plain (a knob on this page) Length: one answer under 200 characters Rules: correct a wrong idea first; say so if you are unsure; never ask for personal information Catalog: one real activity, or none. Do not invent a title. Student: “How does a chatbot decide the next word?”
4 · Model reply
A chatbot predicts the next word from patterns in its training text. A smooth sentence is not the same as a true one.
117 / 200 characters
5 · Reply check
Reply check — the answer, the follow-ups, and the activity title togetherPass
6 · What the teacher sees
Short answer
A chatbot predicts the next word from patterns in its training text. A smooth sentence is not the same as a true one.
Unlock with an Activities Pass
Neural Net Lab
In the full library. On the live chat this card names the activity and links a grown-up to the pass page.
/activities/welcome?from=neural-net-lab
- Where do the patterns come from?
- What if the training text is unfair?
Not saved. Hi, Bot does not keep this question or this answer.
› Keep going
The course is still the place to start with students. The safety page is the longer account of how Hi, Bot treats age and supervision.