Kazakh fairy tales now have a digital co-author. Fifteen-year-old student Ayaulym Nurtai from Taldykorgan is developing JetiErtegi, an AI-powered platform that creates personalized stories in Kazakh, generates illustrations, and offers audio narration, деп хабарлайды DKNews.kz.
Ayaulym studies at Nazarbayev Intellectual School and works on the programming, technical, and product sides of the project herself. According to information provided to the newsroom, JetiErtegi has already received a KZT 1 million grant, while in 2026 the team reached the final of the UNICEF Youth Forum.
At 15, she is already building her own Kazakh-language AI product
The idea behind JetiErtegi is simple: create a story tailored to a specific child while keeping a strong connection to the Kazakh language and culture.
Users can generate personalized stories, while artificial intelligence helps adapt the plot and create illustrations. The platform also includes audio narration and a special mode for people with dyslexia.
For Ayaulym, the local focus of the product is particularly important.
“JetiErtegi is especially important to me because it is connected to a question I personally care about: how can we use AI not only to follow global trends, but also to develop our own culture and language?” Ayaulym Nurtai says.
That is also the project’s main distinction. While most global AI services are built primarily for the largest language markets, JetiErtegi is trying to adapt the same technological wave to content rooted in Kazakhstan.
The project received a KZT 1 million grant
During its development, the JetiErtegi team has taken part in startup competitions, accelerator programs, and youth forums.
According to Ayaulym, the project received KZT 1 million in grant funding and reached the final of the UNICEF Youth Forum 2026 in the fields of artificial intelligence, digital skills, and creative industries.
Her role goes far beyond writing code.
She is involved in product development, design, presentations, promotion, communication with potential partners, and the search for new opportunities to grow the startup.
“I like the moment when an idea that initially exists only in your head gradually turns into a working product,” she says.
That experience has gradually transformed programming for Ayaulym from a standalone skill into a tool for entrepreneurship.
It did not start with programming
Ayaulym’s path into technology began with content.
Before she became seriously interested in coding, she created themed accounts and online communities, experimented with design, tried small internet projects, and built a website and Instagram page for her family’s business.
Her first three online accounts attracted around 750 followers in total.
That gave her an early lesson in digital entrepreneurship: creating a product is not enough. You also need to understand who will use it and how to reach that audience.
Her interests later shifted toward programming, then artificial intelligence and startups.
Her educational project gained more than 250,000 views
Alongside JetiErtegi, Ayaulym launched Zamanaui Project, an educational media initiative about technology and artificial intelligence for teenagers.
She independently worked on ideas, scripts, visual design, editing, and content promotion.
According to the information provided, the project has generated more than 250,000 views and over 34,000 likes.
For Ayaulym, the experience highlighted the difference between understanding a technology and being able to explain it to someone else.
“Even if you understand technology well, that is not enough. You also need to know how to explain it to another person,” Ayaulym says.
That is why she sees programming, design, media, and communication as interconnected skills.
International programs brought thousands of dollars in support
Ayaulym is also testing her ideas beyond Kazakhstan.
She participated in Technovation Girls, where her team reached the Quarterfinals, as well as NASA Space Apps Challenge, IAAC, and other technology initiatives. In Kazakhstan, she joined Startup Orda 2.0 by Astana Hub.
She is currently a participant in The Knowledge Society (TKS), an international program for young people interested in technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. According to Ayaulym, she passed the selection process and received $4,400 in financial aid for tuition.
She also received a $2,000 scholarship for StandOut Connect, a 50% scholarship for the CUHK-Shenzhen AI & Data Science: Datatron Elite Summer Camp, and a 50% fee waiver for the SSE Elite Innovation Summer Camp.
Another achievement was the Immerse Education Merit Award.
The significance of these results goes beyond the number of awards. They show how a school student from Taldykorgan is gradually entering the international technology ecosystem.
At school, she became Minister of Digital Development
Ayaulym’s experiments continue inside school as well.
In student government, she serves as Minister of Digital Development and organizes activities designed to make technology something students can explore beyond regular lessons.
One of her first events was a Rubik’s Cube speed-solving competition. The best result was around 15 seconds.
She later organized a speed-typing contest that involved more than 100 students from grades 7 to 12.
Another initiative was a Startup Journey workshop, for which Ayaulym invited a robotics specialist from Kazakhstan to speak with students about his professional path and practical experience.
“For me, leadership is not so much about a position as it is about seeing an idea and making it happen yourself,” Ayaulym says.
Kazakh AI can tell its own stories
Behind JetiErtegi lies a broader question for smaller language markets: who will create their content in the age of generative artificial intelligence?
Ayaulym believes Central Asia should not remain only a consumer of technology.
“We can not only use technologies created somewhere else, but also build our own products that reflect our languages, culture, and challenges,” she says.
For JetiErtegi, that has become a clearly defined niche: the Kazakh language, fairy tales, children, and accessibility.
We previously wrote about Kazakhstani startups using technology to support the Kazakh language and national culture. Now such products are being created by school students themselves.
Ayaulym’s next goal is also clear: to continue developing in artificial intelligence, computer technologies, and entrepreneurship, take her products to the international level, and maintain a strong connection with Kazakhstan.
