San Francisco, California, New York, New York, and Vrtojba, Slovenia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 25, 2024) - KOBI, an innovative reading app for dyslexic learners by Hopalai, is awarded the inaugural OpenAI Learning Impact Prize. This recognition places the KOBI app among the best educational tools globally, chosen from over 1,900 applications in the distinguished Tools Competition.

KOBI is building on its significant success in Slovenia, where it has improved reading education for thousands of children with dyslexia. KOBI is now expanding to the United States to replicate its positive impact among a broader audience. In addition to the OpenAI prize, KOBI has also received the Tools Competition award in the category of Accelerating Learning, further validating its effectiveness and innovative approach to educational technology.

"We are honored to receive this recognition from The Tools Competition and OpenAI," said Ursula Lavrencic, co-founder and CEO of Hopalai. "Our mission with KOBI is to transform the reading practice for children who struggle, but our solution works great for all the kids learning to read."

Lavrencic's personal experience parenting a child with dyslexia gives her a very intimate understanding of the challenges faced by these learners. Her passion for helping children with dyslexia succeed has been a driving force behind KOBI's development.

"KOBI has extensive experience leveraging AI to improve educational resources for people with disabilities and we are thrilled to recognize its innovative approach to support learners with dyslexia," said Anna Makanju, VP of Global Affairs at OpenAI. "We look forward to seeing how KOBI's AI-powered tools can help children in the US achieve their potential."

KOBI will be released in the US market in October 2024, coinciding with Dyslexia Awareness Month. It will bring personalized, evidence-based learning strategies such as embedded phonics instruction, real-time feedback, and on-device speech recognition, all delivered through an engaging and interactive user interface.

For more information about KOBI and to stay updated on its journey, please visit KOBI website.

About Hopalai

Hopalai is a Slovenian startup co-founded by Ursula Lavrenčič, Marko Fornazarič, and Auke Touwslager. The team's dedication to creating impactful educational tools began with initial extensive research and testing. In 2023, their vision to make a global impact received significant backing from Outfit7, the creators of the globally successful "Talking Tom and Friends" franchise, in a pre-seed funding round. This support has propelled the development and reach of their innovative reading app, KOBI. https://kobiapp.io.

About The Tools Competition

The Tools Competition is a global initiative aimed at accelerating learning outcomes and driving educational innovation through funding and support for edtech tools. The competition is supported by various philanthropic organizations and aims to impact over 107 million learners by 2026. https://tools-competition.org.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company whose mission is to ensure that artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. https://openai.com.

About the Awards

The OpenAI award consists of $100,000 in funding, $25,000 in OpenAI API credits, and technical guidance from OpenAI engineers. The Tools Competition award consists of $150,000 in funding. With the grants KOBI aims to enhance the reading experience for children with dyslexia, focusing on comprehension and word practice. Leveraging on OpenAI's advanced language models, KOBI plans to develop advanced interactive features, all while ensuring a child-safe user experience.

VISUALS:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10fOf3MPQjlH1mXtxJaXjwTshJYlSgRWX?usp=sharing (preview below)

Ursula Lavrenčič, co-founder of Hopalai, draws from personal experience to passionately drive KOBI’s mission of supporting children with dyslexia. Here pictured with her now 16-year-old daughter.

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KOBI's WordBlaster feature gamifies reading practice, making learning fun and engaging for children with dyslexia.

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https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10706/217570_kobiimage2.jpg

KOBI offers personalized, evidence-based learning strategies, empowering children to achieve their full potential through real-time feedback and on-device speech recognition.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10706/217570_kobiimage3.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/217570