What makes AI Studio different
Lovable is best at polished apps that store and show information. AI Studio is best when the app itself needs intelligence. The difference in one line:
Under the hood it is still vibe coding: you describe, Gemini writes the code, you test and refine. Everything from Lessons 1 and 2 applies unchanged.
The screen, mapped
Same rule as Lesson 3: Google moves buttons around, but the three zones (choose Build, describe, preview) stay. Find the zones and you are home.
The build, step by step
- Parent signs in at aistudio.google.com with their Google account. AI Studio is free; Google's terms make it an adult tool, so the parent owns the session and stays close.
- Choose Build in the left menu.
- Describe your app using your 5 blocks, plus one NEW block: what the AI inside should do (see the prompt below). Send it and let it build.
- Try it in the preview. Because there is a model inside, test the AI parts hardest: give it weird input, an empty answer, a way-too-long answer. Note what happens.
- Iterate with the fix-it pattern. One change per message, exactly like Lovable.
- Save and share. Your app saves to your (parent's) AI Studio library. Use the share option to send a link, and know that Google may require viewers to sign in.
Build an app called Quiz Me for students revising. Screens: 1. Home: a big box where I paste my study notes, and a Start Quiz button. 2. Quiz: the app asks me 5 questions about MY notes, one at a time. I type an answer, it tells me if I am right, and explains gently if I am wrong. 3. Results: my score out of 5 and one tip about what to revise next. The AI inside: generate the 5 questions from the pasted notes only. Do not invent facts that are not in the notes. Keep explanations to 2 sentences, friendly, for a teenager. Look: calm and clean, white with one deep blue accent, big readable text, works well on a phone. Rules: if the notes box is empty, ask for notes instead of starting the quiz.
Notice the prompt has a section telling the built-in AI how to behave ("from the pasted notes only", "2 sentences, friendly"). That is called a system instruction, and writing good ones is a real job skill in 2026. Rule of thumb: tell the inner AI its job, its limits, and its tone, in that order.
Free vs paid on AI Studio
| Free tier | Paid (pay per use) | |
|---|---|---|
| Building in AI Studio | Free with a Google account | Free (you pay only for heavy model use) |
| Using Gemini in your app | A generous daily allowance of model calls | Billed per call once you attach a card and pass free limits |
| Good for | This whole course and most school projects | An app with many real users |
No card, no surprise bills: without a payment method the app simply pauses when free limits run out that day. Keep it that way for this course.
AI Studio can give you an API key: a secret code that lets programs use the account's AI allowance. Treat it like a house key. Never paste it into another website, a Discord chat, or a school computer, and never publish an app with the key visible. Anyone who copies it can spend the account's quota (and money, if billing is on). If a key leaks, the parent deletes it in AI Studio and makes a new one.
In the Quiz Me app, why does the prompt say "generate questions from the pasted notes ONLY"?
Finishing this opens Lesson 5: Replit and Canva Code.