The AI revolution took the world by storm when ChatGPT was released in November two years ago. Educational institutions were one of many that were completely reformed, changing students’ and teachers’ views on education. While many teachers only see the danger in students using AI to compose essays and complete homework for them, AI offers so much more value than that. Here is how you should use them too, without getting in trouble for cheating.
While ChatGPT might be the most commonly known and used program, there are a handful of comparable programs that are worth exploring.
Many programs offer a certain amount of messages that can be sent before they either downgrade you to a less intelligent AI or force you to subscribe to their service.
Therefore, you can “bypass” the paywall by using multiple different programs.
Some comparable alternatives to ChatGPT are Perplexity, Claude, Grok, and Gemini.
Most of the AIs mentioned are text-based, where you provide a prompt, and the AI responds.
A new feature that has been rolling out more recently is the ability to provide AI information by uploading photos, further expanding its usefulness.
However, it is not always easy to know which AI to use and how to use it, so here is the ultimate Viking-guide in ascending order:
- Photomath
As understood by the name, you take a photo of your math problem and the app breaks down the solution for you step by step.
While it might be tempting to copy down the solution to your homework, the useful part of the app is that it explains why and how you should proceed with each step.
This is especially useful if you’re stuck on a problem and need help with the next step or to find where in the process you made the mistake.
Photomath places third on our list because it recently removed many features for non-paying users, such as the ability to solve text based questions and showing solutions with animated tutorials.
Nevertheless it is still useful.
After all, you won’t be able to use the app during a test or quiz, so it’s better to help you understand the unit, than to cheat for small homework points.
- Grammarly
Many people only use Grammarly as an autocorrect in their documents, highlighting spelling and grammatical errors.
While that is incredibly convenient, their website has a function, much like ChatGPT, that can compose and rewrite texts and essays.
The key difference is that Grammarly shows more clearly where it makes the adjustments and still gives you the option to keep your original phrasing.
This is currently not possible with other AI programs, and they tend to change sentences in weird and clumsy ways, even when specifically told not to do so.
While Grammarly is a very good and accurate tool, giving you insight on the level of your texts, it lacks the versatility of many other programs.
However, it catches common mistakes and lets you focus on the assignment without interrupting your flow.
- ChatGPT
The biggest beast is still ChatGPT, as it is the most versatile tool and it gets better the more you use it by learning and remembering things about you and your projects.
ChatGPT has recently opened up for more means of input, allowing you to both take photos and have conversations with it, where it replies in both images and spoken language, just like a phone call.
The latter-mentioned feature is extremely useful if you are busy doing something, allowing you to use it hands-free and use it much like a tutor, where you can even choose the AIs’ voice and accent.
Overall, the undefeated winner is ChatGPT, primarily because it is a highly adaptable tool with numerous areas of applications.
Every newly released version keeps getting better, and the best free version right now is more than good enough at everything, and even quite outstanding in certain areas.
Useful prompts
To get the most out of AI, you must learn how to communicate with them in the most efficient way, much like learning a new language.
Doing that takes time, so here are a couple of useful prompts that you can simply copy and paste:
Math
- Break down this math problem: […]. Make sure to be extra clear when explaining how and why you do every step. Please use this method when solving […].
- Create a flowchart to explain […].
Languages:
- Can you create an A2-level scenario where I need to go grocery shopping in [country of your language] and interact with the store staff?
- Please find an appropriate expression for this expression […] in English. The context is […].
General learning:
- Explain to me like I’m five years old and break down […] in an easy manner.
- Give me the foundations of [topic], after that, give me five different, relevant, sub-topics to learn more about.
- Play the part of a teacher interviewing 9th-grade students who are doing a project about […]. Ask questions one at a time about the topic. Adapt your responses to the Lexile of the responses that you get, but be persistent and make sure that the questions above are answered.
- Based on your feedback, what grade would you give this essay in its current form? What changes would I need to make to reach an A+ level?
Test preparation:
- Come up with five exam-style questions on […]. In at least one of the questions, make me argue for a topic and keep giving me feedback until I’ve reached an A-level response.
- Make sure I am prepared for my test next week, it is about […] in [the class, ex Algebra 2] in US high school.
- You are a college professor in [subject], create 10 multiple-choice questions about […]. Each question has to have 1 correct answer and 3 incorrect answers. Allow me to answer one question before showing another one, for each answer say if I am correct or not and provide an explanation with it.
- You are a college professor in [subject], create 10 short answer questions about […]. Allow me to answer one question before showing another one, for each answer say if I am correct or not and provide an explanation with it. Also, grade the answer in percentages.
Planning
- Create a study schedule for the coming weeks, these are my assignments and their due dates: […].
- Here are the instructions for my assignment: […]. Now use that information to give me a breakdown of what’s expected from me. Where should I start and what should my goal for the finished assignment be?
Tips on Success
The more specific you are, the more specific the answer will be.
This can be good in certain situations, but more often than not, the AI will focus too much on the specific detail.
Keep it vague and direct.
To avoid ChatGPT mixing details from different projects, keep making new “chats” for each topic you want to discuss with it.
ChatGPT can also understand most languages, while sometimes to varying extent, make use of that if English is not your mother tongue.
