ChatGPT has already wreaked havoc in classrooms and changed how teachers approach homework creation since OpenAI made its generative AI chatbot publicly available in late 2022. School administrators scrambled to detect AI-generated essays, while students instead frantically searched for ways to hide their synthetic writing. But by focusing on writing assignments, educators have allowed another big shift to occur on the periphery: students are now more frequently using AI to complete their math homework, too.
High school and college students across the country are now trying out free smartphone apps that use generative AI to help them solve their math homework. One of the most popular options on campuses right now is the Gauth app, which has been downloaded millions of times. It’s owned by ByteDance, which is also TikTok’s parent company.
The Gauth app was first released in 2019 with a primary focus on math, but quickly expanded to other subjects like chemistry and physics. Its growing relevance saw it near the top of smartphone download lists in the education category earlier this year. Students seem to love the app: With hundreds of thousands of mostly positive reviews, Gauth has a favorable 4.8-star rating in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Once students download the app, they simply point their smartphone at a printed or handwritten homework problem, making sure the relevant information is within the cut-out portion of the image, and Gauth’s AI model will generate a step-by-step guide, often complete with the answer.
When we tested it on high-school-level algebra and geometry homework samples, Gauth’s AI tool didn’t produce A+ results, especially on the graphing problems, but it did work well enough to produce a low B or high C average on the homework we gave it. It’s not perfect, but it’ll be good enough to satisfy a bored student who’d rather spend their time doing literally anything else after class.
The app struggled with higher-level math problems, like Calculus 2 problems, so the current generation of AI homework-solving apps may be less useful for students further along in their learning journey.
It’s true that generative AI tools based on natural language processing are notorious for failing to generate accurate answers when presented with complex mathematical expressions. But researchers are hard at work improving AI’s capabilities in this area, and current AI homework apps are likely well within the reach of introductory high school math classes. Will also writes that researchers at Google DeepMind were ecstatic with the results of testing a large-scale math-focused language model (AlphaProof) on problems from this year’s International Mathematical Olympiad.
To be fair, Gauth positions itself as an AI learning company that helps people “perfect their homework” and solve difficult problems, not help them cheat. The company even goes so far as to post a “Code of Ethics” on its website outlining appropriate usage: “Resist the temptation to use Gauth in a way that contradicts your values or school’s expectations,” the company’s website reads. Essentially, Gauth is tacitly acknowledging that impulsive teenagers might use the app for much more than just the occasional brain teaser, and it wants them to promise to behave.
A ByteDance spokesperson contacted by WIRED via email before publication but did not respond to a series of questions about the Gauth app.
