As some students return to class this year with statewide or district-implemented cellphone bans, those who still have access to smartphones may be able to use an app powered by artificial-intelligence to complete their homework. The app, called Guath AI or Gauthmath, allows students to take pictures of their homework or tests, which it analyzes and solves. Critics have also pointed out that because it is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, user data may be accessible by that nation’s government.
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Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/accountability/article_4d37743e-76ca-11ef-a42e-b7a5c9841da7.html
[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Education in Focus. I'm your host, Eliana Cornoto. As some students return to class this year with statewide or district-implemented cell phone bans, those who still have access to smartphones may be able to use an app powered by artificial intelligence to complete their homework. But that is not the only concern critics have. Joining me to discuss this is chalkboard news editor Brendan Clary. Brendan, let's start off with just what is this app and what does it do? Yeah, that's a great question. The app is called GOS AI or GOS Math in I think other markets. I think kind of globally it's called GOS Math. And essentially what it allows students to do is take a picture of their homework. And it could be math homework. I know it says GOS Math. But it could be pretty much any kind of homework. I think we have a lot of different history, physics, science, even English. Take a picture of your homework with the camera. And then it will give you the answer and the solution. So it's a very powerful, I think, AI-powered tool where it basically allows you to put in anything. And then it gives you the answer and walks you through the solution. So in a nutshell, it's a kind of, I think, maybe an easier way. You don't have to input anything to chat GPT or to Google. I think that's something that you can obviously do. Is go into Google. But I think it gets kind of complicated, say, for algebra or physics. When you have very complex formulas, you have different, maybe Greek letters or different kinds of exponents, that kind of thing. It's harder to do that on your keyboard, right? So I think this makes it really easy just to take a picture, pops out the answer, there you go. So the app does claim that it has an honor code, that it kind of lays out. But there's also its TikTok account and some of the responses it gives to people tagging them and quotes and stuff, kind of raises some questions. Can you dig into both of those for us? Right. And I should point out that this app is very increasingly popular. And so earlier this year, it was ranked the second most popular education app on the Apple Store, according to Forbes. And that said that the company said that it had almost over 200 million users, right? So that's a large amount of things. And it's a large amount of hype, right? A lot of people talking about it. And a lot of those people posting about it, some of those people posting about it, were on TikTok. And they seem to be paid. In one case, there was somebody who said hashtag add, kind of saying that maybe they'd gotten some kind of compensation for the posts that they were making about Goth. And really what it boiled down to was it's kind of a tale of two apps, right? On this website, Goth is saying things like, oh, we do not allow students to use this in a way that violates its institutions on our code, right? So college or a K12, like a middle school or a high school, I mean, quote, "We believe every student has the ability to learn through determination and honesty. Aligned with your school's academic integrity policies, this honor code outlines Goth's expectations for your conduct on the platform. And it even tells students to resist the temptation to use Goth in ways that go against your values or schools' expectations. And again, success lies in honest study, inappropriate support, make study choices you are proud of, exclamation point. So this is their honor code. It's kind of, I think, an interesting thing to tell students to resist the temptation to use Goth in ways that go against your values or school expectation. I mean, that's sort of language, it's just kind of an interesting choice there. And then on TikTok, you have Goth sort of saying, sort of a different thing to users who are saying that they use it on their tests. So one user said, "I used your app in my end of your test and got full marks." And then Goth said, "Love to see it." The official account. And then again, the honor code says, "Scanning material your instructor has asked you not to in using Goth doing a test or exam would constitute misuse of the app." So that is kind of, again, like I said earlier, it's sort of like a tale of two apps, right? Where on one side you're like, "Okay, we don't allow students to do this and you shouldn't do this and you should resist." And then on the other side, on TikTok, more informally with people who use it, students saying stuff like, "My school blocked Goth, but I still use it at home." Another student saying, "This app is so helpful to help me with my math quiz and I pass." And then Goth replying to them saying, "We'd love to see it." Again, a student saying, "Thanks, I got 100% all my quizzes, make one for communication arts." And then Goth replies, "Awesome, congrats." And it was kind of, again, sort of odd congratulations using our app, get full marks. And so I think that there's that sort of tension between like a homework helper or tutor and just an app that provides answers for free without actually helping students learn it. And I asked Goth about that tension and they never responded to my request for comment. - And while cheating is definitely a major issue and a major concern, it's not the only concern surrounding this app. What other issues do critics have? - Yeah, well, one critic, John Pelson, who is a longtime telecommunications expert. He wrote for the spectator, which is like a London based magazine. He said that the TikTok bands that different nations have instituted based on concerns about TikTok being owned by a Chinese company ByteDance. He said that those also apply to Goth because it's owned by ByteDance. So essentially those national security concerns that have dominated a lot of different news headlines, you know, there's that pressure on TikTok to sell to a US company to have that US affiliate base in the United States. Those concerns are about data, not really, you know, the cheating even and different aspects like that. So it's completely separate national security risk as this expert points out. And the problem there to Pelson is that if a Chinese company, based on Chinese law, if a Chinese company has information that the government can access that information through the Chinese security law. And that they can say it's like a national security concern and basically get that information. The US users who are, you know, even miners. And another concern is that the terms of service allows the company to have access to photo rolls. So it's not just the ones that you can see how that would make sense to have a single picture, but I think it allows access to all photos. And so ostensibly I think the claim is that, you know, you're giving this company that's owned by a Chinese parent company access to all of your photos that the Chinese government could request. And essentially, if you're talking about it in terms of espionage, that can give you a lot of information about the patterns of life. And that there are other concerns of, you know, these kids have parents, these parents have jobs, some of which are interesting to foreign governments, Pelson rights. So, you know, if you can also get that geolocation data, okay, who's doing, who's using Goth around an embassy or around the Pentagon? And then what other photos do they have? And, you know, those kinds of things that starts raising national security concerns. And that, you know, is the other concern that experts have around that because it's owned by ByteDance, right? So this is also the parent company of TikTok. Again, we're a lot of the promotion for the app is. - Well, Brendan, thank you for your insights on this story. Listeners can keep up with this story at chalkboardnews.com. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
