The dodi Story
The idea to found dodi came to Alexander Birke, a father of three wild and wonderful children, when he was confronted with the harsh reality of the school system. Repetitive tasks, which seemingly hadn't evolved much in the 30 years since his own school days, robbed his children of their joy of learning and led to a great deal of frustration and stress. As a tech enthusiast, he tried out the existing educational apps, only to find that unfortunately, these were either very boring or not tailored individually enough to his children's needs. He thought to himself: There has to be a better way. Motivated by the rapidly advancing AI technology, he began to build a system that adapted individually to the needs of his children. It was meant to be easily operated via voice while also being fun.
From this, dodi was born: an adaptive learning buddy that listens, remembers, invents supportive games, and treats every child as the curious, autonomous person they already are. Alexander's children love dodi because it's fun to have a cheerful learning companion who encourages their creativity and meets them exactly where they are.
His parents wanted him to become a teacher. He tried hard not to become a teacher. Now he teaches AI how to teach kids.
Why a Dodo?
For centuries, the belief stubbornly persisted that dodos were clumsy and not particularly smart. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The dodo lived exclusively on the isolated island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. For millions of years, there were no significant natural predators on the island: no wolves, no big cats, and no humans. Since it didn't have to flee from anyone, instead of using its energy for exhausting flight, it preferred to use it for extensive walks on the ground and gradually lost its escape instinct entirely. A phenomenon known as "island tameness."
When sailors first arrived on Mauritius in the late 16th century, the dodos didn't run away. They had no concept of a predator and, out of pure curiosity, simply walked right up to the sailors. The sailors mistook this biological naivety for profound stupidity.
In truth, it was curious and innocent. It faced the world openly, without fear, and was punished for the very trust that made it so wonderful. Just like the dodo, children also face the world with open curiosity, only to be treated condescendingly far too often. The dodo thus became a symbol and a poignant reminder that we should never stop appreciating and nurturing the individual abilities of our children.
Fun fact: Modern CT scans revealed that dodos had an enlarged olfactory bulb. This means they had an excellent sense of smell – a relatively rare trait in birds – which they likely used to sniff out fruit, nuts, and small invertebrates on the dense forest floor.