Accessible AI learning tools worth your time: The emergence of generative artificial intelligence has permanently changed the educational landscape over the past year. While the industry has mostly been wary of the dangers of AI on students’ learning experience and on teachers’ ability to monitor their real performance, there are resources that can actually help students with their learning, rather than just do the work for them. Many data-driven and interactive learning platforms are offering tailored learning support that help supplement the work that teachers do at schools, whether in terms of research, independent learning, or task and time management.

Educational AI vs. unspecialized conversational AI: While unspecialized assistants like ChatGPT have gotten much more attention in the press, there are more specialized, tailored tools that help address needs other than those looking for quick information or assistance. Edtech AI tools are more interactive and personalized, and have a much more focused pool of data and information. They also tend to focus more on providing guided support rather than direct answers.

Whether you’re a student, a teacher, or a parent looking for studying support for your kids, we’ve rounded up some of those tools that are available in Egypt — without a VPN — that we think are effective for students of different ages and skill levels.

FOR STUDYING-

Google’s Socratic is basically an online tutor: Socratic, which is powered by Google AI, creates study guides, informative videos and maps out step-by-step solutions to questions by using academic-focused resources on the web and the support of teachers. The tool currently provides help on algebra, geometry, trigonometry, biology, chemistry, physics, history, and literature.

How it works: The app offers chatbot-style tutoring that encourages students to come up with their own answers, receive instant feedback on them, and ultimately master the topic. Students can specify what topics are giving them trouble, customize the resources they want to use, and pick their preferred learning strategy — whether visual or auditory — based on their learning style.

WHERE TO FIND IT- Access to Socratic is unpaid and available on the iOS App Store and on Google Play.

A similar platform is Plaito , which along with tutoring, analyzes your work to provide personalized tutoring based on your strengths and weaknesses. It also helps you solve questions through its chatbot, providing step-by-step tutorials and clarifications to help you get to the solutions. You can find help with all your basic subjects like math, science, social studies, as well as with SAT and advanced placement.

How it works: You can upload your homework, worksheet, or essay, and your chatbot assistant essay will help you refine your work by making suggestions and edits. One tool we particularly liked is their textbook chat, where students can “chat” with a textbook and receive answers based on the information inside it.

THE PRICE TAG- Plaito offers both an unpaid plan and a paid subscription. With the unpaid plan, you can earn coins by completing challenges, which can be used to “pay” for requests you make on the platform. You also have access to an audio tutor for 20 minutes per month, and a video tutor for five minutes per month. The paid subscription runs for USD 14.99 per month, and offers unlimited access to all of Plaito’s features and services. You also receive 120 minutes of audio tutoring, and 60 minutes of video tutoring per month.

WHERE TO FIND IT- Plaito is available on all browsers and for download on both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.

FOR RESEARCH-

Monic.ai is a research + studying copilot: Monic.ai allows you to upload files — whether videos, documents, or text — to the platform, and generates a list of customized resources relevant to the topic. It also creates summaries of any material you upload and custom quizzes and assessments. The platform is currently available in more than 60 languages, but only on browsers — with plans to launch a mobile app soon.

THE PRICE TAG- Some of Monic’s features are available without charge, including study models and assessments, 2.5k tokens for requests, and video processing with a limit of 100 MB per file. Monic Premium is available for USD 4.99, and offers faster AI processing, advanced translation, a larger file limit, and 10k monthly tokens. For USD 9.99, you can access the Ultimate subscription, which gives you 25k monthly tokens and early access to special features.

Consensus is an AI science-specific search engine to make expert, reliable knowledge accessible. The search engine uses machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to “understand” the contents of any document/media, including the contextual nuances of the language used, and sift through web content to present users with trustworthy sources to support their research. All the results are peer-reviewed research papers or use evidence-based information to ensure their validity. Users can filter results based on year of publication and the type of study used for the research paper.

THE PRICE TAG- Their unpaid subscription is quite generous, allowing users to run unlimited searches, and use unlimited quality indicators like study types or journal metrics. Their monthly subscription runs for USD 9.99 and includes unlimited GPT-4 summaries of research papers as well as other features. The yearly subscription is 20% cheaper, billing USD 95.88, which evens out to about USD 7.99 per month. Students can access the platform for 40% off.

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS-

AudioPen is a great tool for students who like to think out loud. This AI-powered platform can transcribe your audio — whether you’re reading out loud or in a brainstorming session — while structuring and organizing them into notes in real time with a high level of accuracy. Its advanced algorithm means that it understands and analyzes the audio content, helping it create a cohesive structure for your notes. There are currently over 60 languages available, though it can only interpret Arabic, not write it — meaning it will translate it into English in your notes. It is currently only available as an in-browser app, but it can be accessed on phone browsers as well.

THE PRICE TAG- AudioPen is available without subscription, but paid access will let you customize the writing style of the AI’s output, its length, and include keywords you want mentioned in the text, as well as provide an exact transcript for the native audio. You can also upload existing audio files instead of recording in real time. Their annual subscription runs for USD 75, but for double the amount at USD 150, you can receive a lifetime subscription. Both paid subscriptions are refundable within 30 days, if you choose to cancel your subscription.

For students facing trouble managing time or staying on top of their tasks: StudyNinja uses a blend of task management tools to make students’ study routines more efficient and effective. Its AI manager helps students prioritize their assignments based on multiple factors like assignment length, deadline, and what other assignments/activities they have coming up, to help them manage their time and workloads. It also has an available AI assistant that answers students’ questions and keeps a history of previous chats for posterity, as well as features like goal-setting and to-do lists. It can be accessed via browsers on laptops, tablets, and mobile devices.

THE PRICE TAG- Their unpaid subscription includes 1GB of storage, 5k text tokens, unlimited to-do slots, tasks, and projects, as well as unlimited study goals, note-taking, calendar features, and digital flashcards. The standard subscription can be accessed for USD 9.99 per month, allowing multiple users access to documents, offering 5GB of storage, 10k text tokens, and 1k AI image tokens. Their top-tier subscription is for USD 19.99 per month, and includes 30GB of storage, 25k text tokens, and 2.5k AI image tokens. You can trial each subscription plan before purchasing.

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