As the world advances and technology becomes more commonplace in daily life, AI is already being widely used in education and it’s starting to change the industry as we know it.
Whether loathed or loved, AI is being integrated into the sector – outside of the classroom and within. In a survey of college students by Intelligent, 96% said they use ChatGPT for schoolwork, with 69% saying the tool helps them with writing assignments.
But, aside from ChatGPT which has millions of people using it for a whole variety of reasons, several AI apps for education aim to have positive impacts on the way people learn and have been developed for that very reason.
How AI is being used by students and teachers worldwide
While some education providers initially blocked access to OpenAI’s tool on campus, their policies are slowly changing as the technology becomes more commonplace.
The Los Angeles Unified School District was amongst the first to block the use of the tool on school devices and networks but they are now starting to update their policies to permit AI.
The New York City Public Schools district did the same, but quickly did a U-turn and unblocked ChatGPT in May of 2023 after acknowledging they were simply “caught off guard” when it was first released.
Others have always welcomed the technology. One of Asia’s best international schools, the Australian International School based in Singapore, have embraced the chatbot and is using it within its teaching methods.
High school teacher James Midgley said the “AI revolution is already fully out of the bottle,” and so they believe that if they “fail to teach our students to use AI with integrity, we are failing our future leaders.”
5 of the best AI apps for education spanning languages, problem-solving, and mathematics
Natulang
With learning a new language being restricted to expensive private tuition lessons or group classes at school, Natulang aims to make this more accessible with its AI tutor.
The platform does everything by voice, so users spend most of their team speaking to their device which the team behind the AI apps says “is the key to mastering any language.”
It was developed by an indie developer from Ukraine who is a self-described language enthusiast and the tool gives people the chance to learn Spanish, French, or German.
It’s based on speech synthesis and recognition, with the AI tutor requiring you to pronounce sentences out loud. It then corrects you and asks you to try again if you’re incorrect.
The only downside is the app is currently only available on iOS.
Socratic
‘Get unstuck. Learn better,’ is the slogan behind Socratic by Google’s AI app. It’s aimed at those situations where teachers, tutors, or parents aren’t available to help so students can still make progress with their education in their own time.
The app allows users to ask for help on anything they’re confused about either by taking a photo of a confusing calculation or question or voicing it. The platform will then find the best online resources that are available, along with providing expert-created study guides, videos, and step-by-step explanations.
It does this quickly by using artificial intelligence to accurately predict which concepts will help a student to understand better and the speech and text recognition works with all subjects.
AI:R MATH
Unlike other tools that work across different subjects, AI:R MATH is specialized in mathematics. The app promotes an “instant math solution in 3 sec,” following the input of a photo of a tricky question or calculation.
The photo is scanned using AI education technology and is said to be able to ‘recognize virtually anything, from simple equations to word problems.’
If the AI can’t solve it, the equation is then passed on to ‘experts’ who are based around the world and are available around the clock.
While all of the answers within the tool are machine-learned through data that has been accumulated within the app, the information remains private to other users.
Owlift
Previously known as Explain Like I’m Five (ELI5), Owlift aims to simplify any topics and concepts. The company uses an AI model created by OpenAI which will explain any subject it is presented with for different levels of competency.
There are four versions a user receives when posing a question, with the categories ranging from ‘pretty dumb,’ ‘dumb,’ ‘smart,’ and ‘pretty smart.’ While some of the sections sound pretty harsh in their labeling, you’re supposed to work your way up from the bottom to the top to understand the full scope of the topic.
Going beyond the premise of the platform, they’ve also introduced other AI elements like a career idea generator, job interview prepper, a cover letter generator, and more.
Quillbot
Dubbed a ‘complete writing solution,’ Quillbot is a platform with eight AI tools integrated into it. These include the Paraphraser, Grammar Checker, Plagiarism Checker, AI Detector, Summarizer, Citation generator, Translator, and Flow.
While it does sound like just another AI writing tool that many students are already familiar with, the company describes it as being “AI that writes with you, not for you.”
Instead of replacing words and switching out complete sentences, Quillbot enhances what is already written to improve fluency, tone, and formality.
