David Kim from MIT App Inventor is presenting at CHI 2025, taking place in Yokohama, Japan, from April 26 to May 1, 2025.

His presentation features the paper “Aptly: Making Mobile Apps from Natural Language,” co-authored with Evan W. Patton, Ashley Granquist, Robin Liu, Arianna Scott, Jennet Zamanova, and Harold Abelson.

The paper introduces Aptly, a platform designed to democratize mobile app development—especially for young learners. Aptly integrates a Large Language Model (LLM) with App Inventor, allowing users to create apps using natural language. The user’s description is translated into code that corresponds with App Inventor’s visual programming blocks. A preliminary study with high school students highlighted the platform’s usability and potential. Participants' prior programming experience shaped their interaction with Aptly, and many expressed a shift in perspective on programming accessibility and the creative role of AI.

Learn more: https://chi2025.acm.org