The founder of Olamycare Creations, Olanike Osikoya-Babatunde, has outlined how artificial intelligence (AI) is being integrated into early-years education, while stressing that technology must be used carefully to preserve children’s critical-thinking and creative abilities.
In an exclusive interview with AIBase reporter Ahmad Ibrahim, Osikoya-Babatunde said Olamycare Creations is focused on helping children establish strong educational foundations, particularly through phonics-based teaching designed to enable children to read by the age of five.
Olamycare Creations provides bespoke teaching and learning services focused on Early Years education. The organisation develops child-friendly educational content and works with school owners and parents to support pupils and children experiencing reading difficulties.
“We create child-friendly content that provides every child with an equal opportunity to build a solid educational foundation by collaborating with school owners and parents to ensure their pupils and/or children can read at age 5 using phonics,” Osikoya-Babatunde said.
More than 150 pupils supported
The organisation says its work has already produced measurable results.
“Over the last four years, we have helped over 150 pupils and 10 adults overcome reading challenges, achieving a 95% success rate,” Osikoya-Babatunde told AIBase.
The results highlight the organisation’s emphasis on targeted and individualised learning, particularly for children who may struggle with conventional approaches to literacy.
Its approach combines structured teaching with practical activities designed to make learning engaging and relatable for young children.
AI could positively influence Nigerian education
Osikoya-Babatunde believes AI has the potential to improve children’s education in Nigeria when introduced responsibly and with appropriate guidance.
“With the right guidance and proper use, children’s education will be positively impacted in Nigeria,” she said.
However, she does not believe Nigerian children should necessarily be introduced to AI itself at a very young age.
Asked whether children should begin learning about AI from an early age, she said: “No, they should not. AI is more beneficial to the teachers and parents than the children.”
Her position reflects Olamycare’s focus on ensuring that technology supports rather than displaces the fundamental human processes involved in early childhood development.
Olamycare is already using AI
While Osikoya-Babatunde does not advocate early AI education for children, Olamycare is already using AI behind the scenes to improve its operations.
“Yes, we are currently using AI to enhance productivity in content and educational resources,” she said.
The organisation also uses AI to create individualised learning programmes tailored to the needs of its clients.
This use of AI places the technology primarily in a supporting role, allowing educators and parents to benefit from increased efficiency while maintaining human involvement in children’s learning.
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Content and marketing could see the biggest transformation
According to Osikoya-Babatunde, the first major areas of Olamycare’s operations likely to be transformed by AI are its content and marketing functions.
“AI can transform our content and marketing operations,” she said.
Generative AI could also have a significant impact on the organisation’s animation, video and creative services.
“Generative AI will speed up production by suggesting character designs, background styles, and automates repetitive tasks like lip-syncing,” she explained.
The technology could therefore allow creative teams to reduce the time spent on repetitive production processes while focusing more heavily on educational quality and creative direction.
Olamycare exploring AI-powered learning
The organisation is also considering a more direct application of AI through a new learning product or service.
“Yes, we are,” Osikoya-Babatunde said when asked whether Olamycare is considering an AI-powered learning product or service.
She also confirmed that the organisation expects to seek technology partners or investment to support its AI integration “in the nearest future”.
Such partnerships could become important as Olamycare moves from using existing AI tools towards developing technology specifically tailored to its educational model.
Keeping critical thinking at the centre
One of the biggest questions surrounding AI in education is whether increased reliance on technology could weaken children’s ability to think independently and creatively.
Osikoya-Babatunde said Olamycare is addressing that risk by making learning practical and connecting lessons to children’s everyday experiences.
“We build children’s critical-thinking skills by applying practical activities using paper to design cut-out letters used in word blending, thereby making letters come alive,” she said.
“We also apply topics taught to day-to-day activities, making what has been taught relatable to real-life situations.”
The approach is designed to ensure that technology remains a tool supporting learning rather than becoming a substitute for active participation, experimentation and problem-solving.
Building towards an Olamycare AI System
Looking ahead, Osikoya-Babatunde revealed that Olamycare is working towards a technology system capable of responding to clients’ needs more quickly.
“We are working towards having Olamycare AI System that can respond to our client immediate needs while we attend to other things,” she said.
The proposed system could represent a significant step in the organisation’s digital transformation, potentially allowing it to automate aspects of client engagement while its human team concentrates on teaching, educational development and other core responsibilities.
For Olamycare, the emerging AI opportunity is therefore not simply about adopting the latest technology. It is about using AI to increase productivity, personalise educational resources and improve the organisation’s ability to serve children, parents and schools.
Osikoya-Babatunde’s approach also underscores a broader tension facing the education sector: how to take advantage of AI’s capabilities without allowing technology to undermine the human skills that education is ultimately designed to develop.
As Olamycare explores AI-powered services, partnerships and its proposed AI system, the organisation appears to be positioning technology as an enabler of early-years education — while keeping practical learning, critical thinking and human guidance at the centre of the experience.
