Safety & Design
KORA
A public benchmark for testing how an AI product handles child-safety prompts. A published score only means what the tester and the method actually covered.
As of September 26, 2026, HeyOtto's published figure is a self-reported March 2026 run. KORA did not certify or endorse HeyOtto.
- Parents
- Educators and school leaders
- Policymakers and staff
What parents should know
KORA is a public child-safety benchmark. A company can run that method and publish a number. The number is not a certification unless KORA itself says it certified the run. Read who tested, when, and what the score does not prove.
On this page
What is KORA?
KORA is a benchmark other people can read and, in HeyOtto's case, run. It is aimed at child-safety prompts, not at whether a product is fun or good at homework. A score is a result on that test, on that date, by whoever ran it.
HeyOtto published a result from its own March 2026 run of KORA's public methodology. KORA did not certify or endorse that run. The figure belongs in a note about method, not in a headline that sounds like a third-party seal.
Why KORA matters
Safety scores travel farther than the footnote. A parent can see a percent and think an outside lab passed the product. If the company ran the test itself, the honest sentence says self-reported, names the month, and links the method.
A benchmark also has edges. It can miss a prompt style your child actually uses. Treat a high score as a reason to read the method, then still look at the parent tools: transcripts, topic limits, and alerts.
Dates go stale. A March run does not describe the product in September unless someone retested. When you cite a score, keep the month next to it and say who ran the test. If a page leads with the percent and hides the self-reported line, read the method page before you repeat the number.
How it shows up in practice
- A parent asks whether a safety percent was scored by the company or by the benchmark maker.
- The product page states the month of the run and links a page that says what the score does not prove.
- A school leader refuses a one-line badge and asks for the methodology.
- A family still turns on transcript access, because a benchmark is not a babysitter.
- Someone quoting the percent also quotes the month and the words self-reported.
- A school asks for the methodology link before putting the percent in a newsletter.
How HeyOtto helps
HeyOtto's KORA figure is self-reported from March 2026, using KORA's public methodology. KORA did not certify or endorse HeyOtto. The transparency page is there so you can read the limit of the number, including what a single run cannot prove. Day to day, parents still get transcripts, topic limits, and real-time alerts.
- Do not treat the score as a certification.
- The write-up lives at heyotto.app/kora-benchmark.
- Parent tools on the product are separate from the benchmark.
For families
Read the KORA noteFAQs
Did KORA certify HeyOtto?
No. The March 2026 score is HeyOtto's own run of KORA's public methodology. KORA did not certify or endorse HeyOtto. Say self-reported if you repeat the number.
What is the score allowed to prove?
It describes how Otto did on that method, in that run. It does not prove that every future prompt is safe, and it is not a legal compliance finding. The benchmark page lists what the score does not prove.
Should I pick an AI tool because of a percent?
Use the percent as one footnote. Then check who creates the account, whether you can read the chats, and what happens when a child is in distress. Those product facts matter on a Tuesday night. A benchmark does not sit with your child.
Where do I read the method?
KORA publishes the benchmark at korabench.ai/benchmark. HeyOtto's note on its own run is at heyotto.app/kora-benchmark. Read both if you are comparing products.
Sources
Last reviewed September 26, 2026. This entry is reviewed twice a year.