Whether you love it or hate it, there’s no doubt that AI, or artificial intelligence, has changed the world and how many people work. While many students have concerns about AI — with potential issues being reduced jobs available to humans, a lack of empathy and creativity in content created by AI, and higher risks of getting hacked — there are also major potential benefits, like saving time by automating tasks and helping users with productivity, as well as the sheer amount of information people can have access to. In recent years, many new AI programs have hit the mainstream, with examples like ChatGPT and Snapchat’s AI bot being super prevalent among Gen Z in particular. Now, there’s a new program students are getting in on: Gauth AI, an app that helps with homework.
While there are plenty of other homework-helping AI apps out on the internet, what makes Gauth so significant at this point in time is that it’s owned by Bytedance, aka the same company that owns TikTok, meaning it likely has the potential to be huge among current students. This, alongside the fact that the app has gained rapid popularity amid concerns over TikTok’s potential ban in the United States, has certainly caught people’s attention. Here’s everything else to know about Gauth AI.
What is Gauth AI?
Gauth AI is already super popular. According to its listing on the Google Play Store, the app has more than 10 million downloads, along with a 4.8-star rating and 224,000 reviews. (Apple’s App Store doesn’t list the number of downloads an app has, but it has 4.8 stars and 3,100 reviews.)
While Gauth AI seems to be just now reaching the mainstream, it has actually been around for a few years. Launched in 2021 as an app called Gauthmath, it was originally used to help kindergarten through 12th grade students with their math homework amid the rise of remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, the app has expanded to other subjects, such as history and social sciences, and also provides a chatbot simply known as “Gauth” that students have access to 24/7.
How are students using Gauth AI?
An in-depth April 3 piece in Forbes details how Gauth AI is used: First, students have to give the app permission to access their camera, which is pretty common in most apps. From there, they can take pictures of the homework problem they are struggling with, and Gauth AI will solve the problem, providing step-by-step instructions for the students. In addition to the help on homework, users can also use Gauth AI to set timers and reminders to work on their homework. There is also an animated “Personal AI Study Buddy” (which has major Clippy from Microsoft vibes, IYKYK) as well as an option to listen to music within the app.
If students want to get more than the basics out of Gauth, they can get a “Plus” version for $11.99 per month that connects students with human tutors. Gauth Plus is also ad-free and offers access to unlimited answers and explanations in its question bank.
Will the potential TikTok ban in the U.S. affect Gauth AI?
There’s a good chance you’ve heard of the ban on TikTok that got passed by the House of Representatives on March 13, 2024. The bill would require Bytedance, the company that owns TikTok and Gauth, to sell its stake in TikTok or face a TikTok ban in the United States. As for what that means for the fate of Gauth, Emily Baker-White, the journalist who wrote the Forbes piece, told CBS News that it may only be a matter of time before Gauth is also threatened with a U.S. ban. “I expect Congress will have the same concerns about any Bytedance app; it’s just that TikTok is the big one right now,” she said in the interview. This is because U.S. lawmakers are concerned that Bytedance, a Chinese company, has access to a ton of U.S. user data, which could compromise users’ privacy — and, potentially, U.S. national security.
“Their privacy policy in many ways isn’t that different from other companies; a lot of companies get access to a lot of data from our phones,” Baker-White explained in the interview. “But, most Bytedance apps have a provision in their privacy policy that the information can be shared with other companies in their corporate group. This is something that U.S. Senators and Congresspeople have been worried about, because they’re worried about that data being shared with people in China, who could be forced to turn it over to the government.”
Only time — and Congress, probably — will tell what the future holds for Gauth AI in the U.S. But one thing is for sure: Whether this is the first time that you’ve heard of Gauth or you’ve been using it to help you with your schoolwork, the app will surely be a topic of discussion for some time to come.