How it works
One session, start to finish.
Your parent does one thing: talk. Here is everything that happens around that, from the call you book today to the clip your family watches tomorrow.
Before the first session
Today · 15 minutes · with you, not your parent
The free setup call
We call you. We ask what your parent likes to be called, which language and dialect feels like home, how their hearing is, and when in the day they are at their best. We answer your questions about consent and privacy. No payment is taken.
That week
A familiar device and a person they trust
Your parent never creates an account, fills in a form or learns an app. A family member or helper opens the call for them on a device they already know — a tablet on the kitchen table is perfect — and can stay nearby or step away.
During the session 15 to 30 minutes
The first minute
Mai greets them by name
Mai introduces herself and says plainly that she is an AI. She mentions the day, and from the second session on, where the story stopped last time.
For example (invented)
Dạ con chào Bác Lan. Hôm trước Bác đang kể tới cây đèn dầu của má Bác.
Hello, Bác Lan. Last time you were telling me about your mother’s oil lamp.
Before any story
Consent, in their own words
In the first session Mai explains what will be recorded and who will see it, and asks. Your parent answers out loud, and that answer is kept as the consent record. A “no” is final. She asks again at the start of every session, because a yes last week is not a yes today.
Xem lại · looking back
Last week’s clip, played back
Mai plays a short clip from the previous session so your parent can see and hear themselves, then asks who may see it: only the family, people they name, or no one.
Kể chuyện · the stories
One question at a time
Mai asks one thing and listens. She does not interrupt, does not ask again what she has already been told, and stays with a heavy story instead of hurrying past it. If your parent needs a moment, Mai waits and says so gently rather than leaving a silence. Questions the family sent are woven in.
Trò chơi ca dao · around minute 15
A small game
For Vietnamese elders, a round of folk verses: Mai starts a line and they finish it. It is a rest, a smile, and often the door to another story.
Tạm biệt · goodbye
It ends when they say so
Tired after ten minutes? That is the session. Mai thanks them, says what she enjoyed hearing, and says see you next week.
The blue áo dài.
42 seconds · captions only, no audio. Invented characters and story.
Caption text · Vietnamese and English
Bà Lan is a placeholder portrait. After her yes, a sample family page shows the clip, “Family only”.
Mai
Bác có muốn kể về chiếc áo dài này không ạ?
Would you like to tell me about this áo dài?
Bà Lan · invented
Đó là chiếc áo dài xanh mẹ may cho tôi hồi còn trẻ.
It was a blue áo dài my mother made for me when I was young.
Bà Lan
Tôi nhớ mẹ ngồi bên cửa sổ, khâu từng mũi thật nhỏ.
I remember her by the window, sewing tiny stitches.
Mai
Bác nhớ nhất điều gì khi mặc chiếc áo ấy?
What do you remember most about wearing it?
Bà Lan
Mẹ khâu thêm một đường chỉ, để tôi mặc được lâu hơn.
My mother added another line of stitching, so I could wear it longer.
Mai
Bác có muốn giữ đoạn này cho gia đình không ạ?
Would you like to keep this part for your family?
Bà Lan
Có. Để các cháu biết cụ của chúng khéo tay thế nào.
Yes. So the grandchildren know how skillful their great-grandmother was.
Mai
Câu chuyện của Bác đã được giữ lại cho gia đình.
Your story is now kept for the family.
For the family helper
Your job is to open the call. That is nearly all.
The helper’s session page has one big button to start the call, today’s outline, and last session’s clip ready to play.
If something goes wrong — Mai cut in, misheard, or took too long — you tap one of five large buttons. Each tap is saved with the exact moment, so we can fix precisely that. You never have to describe a bug.
The five buttons
- Bác nói xong rồi — they have finished speaking
- Mai cắt lời Bác — Mai cut them off
- Mai trả lời sai — Mai answered wrongly
- Mai không nghe Bác — Mai did not hear them
- Chờ lâu quá — the wait was too long
After the session
The same day
A person checks every cut
The session becomes a transcript in their language and English, and a few proposed clips. Before anything reaches your family, a helper approves each clip, and it is only published if your parent’s recorded consent for that session allows it.
Within 24 hours
The first clip reaches your family
A short clip with subtitles and a transcript excerpt appear on your private family page. This is usually the moment a brother or a cousin asks how to join.
Before next week
The family answers back
Anyone in the family can send a question for Mai to ask next time. The stories start to follow what the grandchildren actually want to know.