Chatbots with reasoning are designed to guide, instead of an easy answer. Research tools. Learning modes. Writing assistance. Note taking. The realm of artificial intelligence (AI), at least that is what their makers believe, is primed for relevance in the education space. AI companies are making definitive moves with education-focused AI, but it isn’t a shot in the dark either.
Anthropic’s Education Report released this week, based on what the AI company says is a “privacy-preserving analysis of a million education-related conversations with Claude”, determines that students are commonly using Claude AI to create and improve educational content, and in search of technical explanations or solutions.
Reliance on AI tools depends on variables, including relevance, comfort and specifics of curriculum through school and college education. Or as Mustafa Suleyman, Executive Vice President and CEO of Microsoft AI says, “An AI companion is completely personal, built around individual needs, values and expectations.”
It is that education-focused challenge which AI companies aren’t shying from. Days apart, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft have made seemingly tangible progress; that could help AI find a place amidst traditional ways of studying.
“STEM students are early adopters of AI tools like Claude, with Computer Science students particularly overrepresented. In contrast, Business, Health, and Humanities students show lower adoption rates relative to their enrolment numbers,” says Anthropic’s report.
STEM refers to students enrolled in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics programs.
Google’s two-pronged approach sees a more versatile Gemini Live now available on smartphones and tablets, alongside upgrades to NotebookLM. Gemini Live can now view the physical world using a phone’s camera, or accept screen sharing as information input, as framework for an intuitive conversation with AI.
“Just point your camera or share your screen and ask away. Excited to see Project Astra come to life,” says Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
In theory, students can point Gemini Live to a mathematical equation and get help towards solving it. Or share an image or artwork, to learn more or find cues to get started with creative writing. This is now available on Google’s Pixel 9 series, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy S25 flagship phones on the free tier, and with a Gemini Advanced subscription ( ₹1,950 per month) on other Android phones.
Microsoft’s Copilot Vision, underlined by OpenAI’s GPT models, works on similar lines. Now rolling out for Android phones, Apple iPhone as well as Windows PCs as a native app, the idea is to allow users to interact with their surroundings in real-time using their phone’s camera or through their screen on Windows PCs.
On a mobile, it can analyse the real-time video feed, or photos to provide information and suggestions (e.g., identifying plants, offering design tips). On PCs, Copilot will be available while working across multiple applications, browser tabs, or files, enabling tasks such as searching, organising files, and collaborating on projects without switching apps.
Google’s NotebookLM uses Gemini’s multimodal understanding capabilities to summarise and build connections between topics from PDF files, web links, YouTube videos and Google Docs. This can be classified as a unique personalised AI expert, because NotebookLM’s only source of information for generating summaries and responses, is the data a user provides.
That approach significantly reduces the risk of outdated information, missed context or hallucinations. While NotebookLM is only available via a web browser for now, Google confirms they are working on apps too.
The latest updates add an optional source discovery option, based on topics. “This feature especially helps students, as finding the right, comprehensive set of resources for a specific subject or topic is a crucial first step in studying effectively,” says Cheng-Wei Hu, Software Engineer, building NotebookLM.
OpenAI had unlocked ChatGPT Plus free for college students in the US and Canada, through May. The window may be enough for students to summarise documents and PDF files, research topics for assignments and find help with creating reports or assignments. They hope much of this demographic would evolve into paying subscribers for this $20 a month plan, later.
But they aren’t stopping there. NextGenAI, a unique consortium with 15 research institutions (these include Caltech and Harvard University), sees OpenAI committing $50 million in research grants, compute funding, and API access to students, educators, and researchers.
“NextGenAI reinforces the vital partnership between academia and industry, ensuring that AI’s benefits extend to laboratories, libraries, hospitals, and classrooms worldwide,” they say, in an official statement.
A pertinent question amid these changing times — are students using AI to cheat?
“It’s hard to know whether any specific category is cheating or legitimate study, but we did notice some concerning patterns: students straightforwardly asking for answers or asking Claude to rewrite an essay to avoid plagiarism detection,” says Anthropic, in a statement.
The Claude for Education specialised edition of AI, will feature something called ‘Learning mode’. Or as the company describes it, “a new Claude experience that guides students’ reasoning process rather than providing answers, helping develop critical thinking skills.”
“Development of voice-based learning models in local languages is on the rise. A stream of companies is continually working to enrich datasets in Tamil, Telegu, Hindi and other such Indian languages. This is helping students bridge language gaps,” says Avantika Tomar, Partner, Education, at EY-Parthenon India.
In an Indian context, localisation gains importance, something AI companies must know the importance of.
