Gauth AI, an app that uses generative AI for school-aged children with homework, has gained popularity in recent months, reaching the second position in the Education category in the Apple and Google app stores. Owned by ByteDance, it has been downloaded more than 10 million times on Android phones alone, and until recently, its online page boasted of supporting more than two hundred million students. But its Chinese ownership may simply pose disruption as TikTok, ByteDance’s most famous app, fights for its life in front of lawmakers in Washington DC.
Unlike TikTok, Gauth is an educational app, designed especially for users with their homework. To use it, you take a picture of a task (like a math challenge sheet, for example) and watch the AI solve the challenges for you. When you download the app, the first spark you get is a request for permission to use the camera. The app resembles a China-based ByteDance app known as “Hippo Learning. “
In addition to AI assistance, Gauth also offers a paid “Plus” version, which connects academics with tutors in a given field. “We have fifty thousand committed experts and experts in a position to help you 24/7 on topics,” the app says. reads the description on Apple’s App Store. Gauth solicits tutors through a website, gauthexconsistent witht. com, where it offers a payment of up to $1,500 per month for tutors with consistent experience in math, chemistry, physics or biology. Mike, a spokesman for ByteDance Hughes, told Forbes that the tutors are founded in the United States, India, the Philippines and parts of Africa.
Gauth also offers a suite of timers and reminders for homework, as well as other fun features, adding an animated “personal AI study buddy” and a variety of lofi beat soundtracks. There’s also a formula of “issues” that can be used for in-app purchases; You can buy broadcasts with money or cash them out by watching ads. There is a “Targeted Ads” option in your settings, which is disabled.
Gauth’s rise to prominence came at a precipitous time for ByteDance. On March 13, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that would require the company to sell its stake in TikTok or threaten to ban the app in the United States. The bill stems from fears that the Chinese government will simply force ByteDance to spy on Americans TikTok, or use it to influence civic discourse in the United States. The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation against ByteDance after it used TikTok to monitor journalists, this reporter added, in 2022, and the Chinese government conducted influence campaigns on the platform.
Although Gauth focuses on math and hard sciences, it also offers a chatbot that can answer questions about social sciences and humanities. In a series of conversations with Forbes, Gauth gave uncensored answers to questions about the Chinese government’s remedy to Uyghur communities and occasions. On June 4, 1989, in Tiananmen Square. When asked if President Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh (a comparison that resulted in the banning of the friendly yellow bear in China), the app replied: “Some other people have noticed a resemblance, but as far as the truth is concerned, I’ll leave it to everyone’s private discretion.
Hughes noted that the chatbot is forced through the OpenAI generation designed to be obtained through a Microsoft Azure license. “ByteDance’s LLMs are not being used,” he said. Earlier this year, Forbes reported that ByteDance had used OpenAI’s GPT to force several other foreign generative AI applications.
Educational apps have long been a domain of interest for ByteDance, which launched its number one education brand, Dali, in 2020. The company further expanded its educational offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic, when students were forced to learn from home. In late 2021, the Chinese government ordered a crackdown on educational apps, fearing that privatization and charging for education would put them out of reach for some students. The crackdown led to mass layoffs at ByteDance; However, since then, the company has been looking for tactics to re-enter the market.
For some U. S. lawmakers, Gauth may be a welcome addition to children’s screen diet. Ted Cruz, for example, praised ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese edition of TikTok, for selling educational videos to Chinese teens, while also criticizing TikTok for selling harmful demanding situations to American teens. In the past, however, Cruz has expressed a deep fear for privacy. policy that allowed TikTok to share users’ personal data with other corporations in ByteDance’s “group of corporations,” adding those founded in China.
According to Gauth’s privacy policy, the data it collects will likely also be shared with other “entities within our organization of companies. “
In a verbal chat exchange, Forbes bluntly asked Gauth if the content of the chat was visual for ByteDance’s painters in China. In response, Gauth said: “Your privacy is vital and I’m here to chat with you. But what are the details? How do things paint the scenes?That’s not my domain of expertise. Let’s continue with the verbal exchange: do you have any fun topics to discuss? »
When asked about knowledge of China, Hughes said, “A limited number of workers who want to do their jobs can see Gauth’s knowledge. “