Best AI Tools for School
Young people were among the first ones to adopt AI, though unfortunately, most of their efforts were related to using the tech to write essays for them.
However, we shouldn’t simplify things that easily as AI could also help children advance in their schools — and that’s what this page is all about.
While they can use it to get help for their homework — and definitely for essay writing — this technology can also help them learn new things by getting answers to relevant questions and even having their own virtual tutor.
The last mentioned pretty much democratizes access to knowledge, enabling anyone to benefit from the guiding hand of a tutor. And that’s pretty cool. Here are some of the best AI tools for school:
Shiken
👍 Pros
👎 Cons
- AI makes all the difference in a learning app
- Shiken's notes are really smart and very handy during learning
- Daily quotes and mindfulness help along the way
- You'll have to pay for the best results
Dubbed the “all-in-one learning app,” Shiken is an AI-powered service that helps you learn two times faster.
It does that with a combination of AI tutoring, quizzes, mindfulness and game design to help learners retain information for longer and improve engagement.
And it apparently works, with the company’s own research suggesting that 96% of learners surveyed report achieving higher grades with shorter learning times when using Shiken AI.
In order to get started, you should choose your subject and topic, then set yourself goals, deadlines and a time to learn to build habits and structure your learning. Then, add quizzes, courses and exams to your library from the Shiken store.
You can either play solo or against others live or on self-paced challenges. Along the way, you will be able to review explanations, save questions, take notes, unlock study buddies, and take meaningful breaks through Shiken’s mindfulness area.
At any time, you can track and share your progress and stay motivated with daily motivation quotes and nudges.
Shiken is free to try, and if you want to learn something new – you’ll want to check it out.
Google Lens Homework by Google
👍 Pros
👎 Cons
- It's like having your own AI tutor in your pocket
- Using your voice and camera to get answers is cool
- All popular subjects are covered by Google Lens
- At the moment, it's an English-only app
Formerly called Socratic, Google Lens’ Homework feature uses the search giant’s powerful AI technology to help students understand their school work at a high school and university level.
Simply ask Google Lens Homework a question and the app will find the best online resources for you to learn the concepts. It supports most high school subjects, such as science, math, literature, and social studies — with more being added all the time.
The cool thing is that you don’t have to type it all. Instead, you can use your voice or camera to connect to online resources and understand any problem.
Once it understands the subject, Google Lens will help you find videos, step-by-step explanations, and everything else that will help you learn subjects at your own pace.
It’s not a generic search, mind you — Google partnered with teachers and experts to bring visual explanations to Google Lens, making it easier to learn the concepts behind any problem.
In a nutshell, this is one mobile app every student should have installed on their smartphones.
Mindgrasp by Apricot AI LLC
👍 Pros
👎 Cons
- Having an AI-powered study buddy is cool
- The Chrome extension could be especially useful for researchers
- Not just for English students, Mindgrasp supports 10+ languages
- It would be nice to see a lower-cost or even free plan for students on a budget
Dubbed the “world’s #1 AI learning assistant,” Mindgrasp instantly creates notes, summaries, flashcards, quizzes, and answers questions from any document, YouTube video, Zoom meeting, webinar recording, podcast, and more.
The tool can “read for you” and can “handle” all kinds of documents, including books, essays, resumes, research articles, legal case files, etc. It can just as easily “watch for you,” which can come in handy when you don’t have time to join a webinar or don’t want to watch an hour-long video to get the key findings.
Once it “digests” the content, Mindgrasp can help you clarify and understand the material. Simply ask the AI assistant for clarifications on all kinds of subjects. It’s like your “study buddy” that can keep up with every move you make online thanks to the provided Chrome extension.
Mindgrasp is available in more than 10 languages and is already being used by over 100,000 students, as well as researchers and professionals (numbers from September 2023). The students, in case you wonder, come from such universities as Stanford, Princeton, MIT, The Ohio State University, and the University of Maryland.
Want to join them?
Talk to Books by Google
👍 Pros
👎 Cons
- It's free to use for everyone
- Amazing tool for students and research
- The algorithm is constantly learning and improving
- Sometimes its responses can be off-topic or nonsensical
Talk to Books is Google’s experiment that allows users to interact with books in an entirely new way. You can ask questions or make statements, with the AI searching for conversational responses from its vast index of over 100,000 books. The idea is not to point you toward a list of books containing your answers but to provide actual excerpts from books that best respond to your query.
The AI behind Talk to Books relies on semantic analysis, and it can understand the meaning and context of your questions. So, when you ask a question – it won’t look for the most authoritative or on-topic book. Instead, it will assess how well each sentence from its book library pairs up with your query. However, it’s worth adding that because of this method, sometimes the responses might fail to hit the mark or might be taken entirely out of context.
Even though it’s Google’s service, Talk to Books doesn’t work like a traditional Google search. You shouldn’t enter keywords but phrase your queries conversationally as if you’re talking to a friend. The more natural your question, the better the AI can understand and respond to it.
And while you can use Talk to Books as a learning tool, it is best used to find specific answers. Even more, as they like to put it, the tool is meant to stimulate thought, curiosity, and exploration by providing responses that might lead to new insights.
To sum it up, Google’s Talk to Books is a fun tool that lets you talk with books. At its best, it will stimulate creativity, enhance learning, and encourage exploration.
Duolingo Max by Duolingo
👍 Pros
👎 Cons
- Powered by OpenAI's powerful GPT-4 model
- More powerful than Super Duolingo, and yes - you can upgrade
- You can buy an individual subscription or a family plan to share with 5 other users
- Limited availability at the start
- These AI-based features cost extra
Duolingo Max is an AI-enabled service from the popular language learning platform Duolingo.
Building on top of the current Super Duolingo product, it provides learners with access to two brand-new features and exercises: Explain My Answer and Roleplay. Both are powered by OpenAI, which is best known as the company behind ChatGPT. In fact, Duolingo has been working closely with OpenAI for months to refine the technology (GPT-4) and get it ready for learners.
The Explain My Answer feature offers learners the chance to learn more about their response in a lesson, whether their answer was correct or incorrect. By tapping a button after certain exercise types, you can enter a chat with Duo to get a simple explanation and ask for examples or further clarification.
On the other hand, Roleplay allows learners to practice real-world conversation skills with world characters in the app. These challenges, which earn XP, will live alongside the path as one of the “Side Quests” learners can access by tapping on the character. For instance, you can discuss future vacation plans with Lin, order coffee at a café, go furniture shopping with Eddy, or ask a friend to go for a hike.
After every interaction, you get AI-powered feedback from Duo on the accuracy and complexity of their responses, as well as tips for future conversations.
As we’re writing this, the only courses that can utilize these new features are Spanish and French for English speakers on iOS. Also, Duolingo Max is available in select markets, including the U.S., Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Like that’s the case with Super Duolingo, Duolingo Max can also be purchased as an individual subscription or as a family plan to share with 5 other users.
What can AI tools for school do for you?
They can do many things to help you advance in school and, more importantly – learn new things. That’s what AI should be all about – to help us all advance in our personal and professional lives. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves – here’s how AI tools could help you in school:
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Write an essay
As we noted above, this is probably something most students use AI for. However, we should add that there are also other tools that could help teachers and professors detect AI-generated content. In that sense, we suggest using AI to create the first draft of an essay and then change it to be truly yours.
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Create fancy graphics
If your school work requires that you create an image, you can use a different tool for that and generate fancy graphics from a text prompt. Beyond images, there are also AI tools that will let you create illustrations that you can then further modify until you get to something you can take to your school.
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Get answers
Not sure what some term means? Or you may want a different explanation for a problem. You can always ask AI for an explanation like you’re a “10-year-old child.” Seriously, most chat-based AI tools will accept such inputs, allowing you to get clear answers to your questions.
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Try a virtual tutor
Moving this to a new level, you can benefit from a virtual tutor that is always there for you, ready to guide you through pretty much any subject you could imagine. We’ve seen a few such services, all with great ratings across platforms. So, why not give them a try?
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Get personalized study materials
Finally, we should mention that because of its “brains,” AI will not serve the same content it serves to all users. As you ask it questions, the algorithm gets to know you better and will provide you with more relevant information based on your knowledge level. Again, it’s like having a tutor that keeps up with every step you take.
Hopefully, you have seen how AI can be your ally for school. Most importantly, it will make it easier for you to learn new things, get a better grasp of some concepts, and improve your knowledge overall. It’s a brave new world, and students are among the first ones to adopt it.