Gauth is a mobile app, owned by ByteDance, that offers homework help to students.
getty
Gauth AI, an app that uses genetic artificial intelligence to help school children do their homework, has grown in popularity in recent months, reaching #2 in the Education category in both the Apple and Google app stores. Owned by ByteDance, downloaded more than 10 million times only on Android phones and until recently, its website boasted that it had supported more than 200 million students. But its Chinese ownership could spell trouble as TikTok — the most famous app owned by ByteDance — fights for its life against lawmakers in Washington
Unlike TikTok, Gauth is an educational app, designed specifically to help users with their homework. To use it, you take a picture of a homework assignment — like a math problem sheet, for example — and watch as the AI solves the problems for you. When downloading the app, the first message you get is a request for permission to use the camera. The app looks similar to a China-based ByteDance app known as “Learning Hippo.”
In addition to AI assistance, Gauth also offers a paid “Plus” version, which connects students with teachers in a given subject area. “We have fifty thousand experts and dedicated experts ready to help you 24/7 with many topics.” says the description of the app in the Apple app store. Gauth solicits tutors through a website, gauthexpert.com, where it offers payment of up to $1,500 a month for tutors with expertise in math, chemistry, physics or biology. said ByteDance spokesman Mike Hughes Forbes that the teachers are based in the United States, India, the Philippines and parts of Africa.
Gauth also offers a set of timers and homework reminders and other fun features, including an animated “Personal AI Study Buddy” and a selection of lofi beat soundtracks. There is also a “points” system that can be used for in-app purchases. you can buy points with cash or collect them by watching ads. There is a “targeted ads” toggle in your settings, which is automatically set to “off”.
Gauth’s surge came at a heady time for ByteDance. On March 13, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that would require the company to sell its stake in TikTok or face a ban on the app in the United States. The bill arose out of concerns that the Chinese government could require ByteDance to spy on Americans through TikTok or use it to influence political discourse in the United States. The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into ByteDance after it used TikTok to track journalists, including this reporter, 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 the social sciences and humanities. In a series of conversations with Forbes, Gauth provided uncensored answers to questions about the Chinese government’s treatment of Uighur communities and the events of June 4, 1989 in Tiananmen Square. Asked if President Xi Jinping resembles Winnie the Pooh (a comparison that resulted in a ban of the friendly yellow bear in China), the app said, “some people have noticed a resemblance, but as for the real deal, I’ll leave it to everyone’s personal judgment.”
Hughes noted that the chatbot is powered by OpenAI technology available through a Microsoft Azure license. “No LLMs are used by ByteDance,” he said. Earlier this year, Forbes reported that ByteDance had used OpenAI’s GPT to power several other international AI production applications.
Educational apps have long been an area of interest for ByteDance, which launched its primary education brand, Dali, in 2020. The company further increased its educational offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic, when students were stuck to learn from home. In late 2021, however, the Chinese government ordered a crackdown on educational apps, out of concern that privatizing and charging for education could put it out of reach for some students. The crackdown worked mass layoffs to ByteDance — but the company has been looking for ways to get back into the market ever since.
For some US lawmakers, Gauth may be a welcome addition to the diet of screen kids. Senator Ted Cruz, for example, has excelled ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, for promoting educational videos to Chinese teenagers, while criticizing TikTok for promoting dangerous challenges to Americans. Cruz, however, has previously spoken out intense anxiety about a privacy policy that allowed TikTok to share private user information with other companies in the ByteDance “group of companies,” including those based in China.
According to Gauth’s Privacy Policy, the information it collects may also be shared with other “entities within our corporate group”.
In a chat conversation, Forbes asked Gauth if the content of the conversation was visible to ByteDance employees in China. In response, Gauth said: “Your privacy is important and I am here to chat with you. But the specifics of how things work behind the scenes? It’s not my area of expertise. Let’s keep the conversation going – do you have any fun topics to talk about?”
When asked about access to data from China, Hughes said: “A limited number of employees who need access to perform their jobs can see Gauth’s data.”
MORE FROM FORBES
