One student enjoyed creating his character so much that he asked whether he could show the process to his family and cousins. That evening, 54 books were created, costing me more than £100 in AI compute costs.
I loved their enthusiasm — but it also taught me that I needed to password-protect the platform while I looked for funding. I cannot afford to provide personalised digital books, professionally printed copies and a properly evaluated educational programme on my own.
The working platform and the enthusiasm are already here. Funding will determine whether EmpowerEd Novels remains a classroom experiment or becomes a programme that can benefit schools across the country.
The Hero Builder combines young people’s choices, thoughtful educational design, safeguarding constraints and responsible AI to help each child create a respectful representation of themselves.
The next step is a robust, independent pilot to test its educational value and measure its effects on motivation, confidence, belonging and engagement.
