AI tools are transforming how high school students approach their studies, offering assistance with everything from editing essays to organizing class materials. ChatGPT, Claude.ai, Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Perplexity AI each have their strengths, but they also come with limitations. While these tools can enhance your work, they cannot and should not replace the personalized feedback and deep understanding that comes from one-on-one assistance with a tutor. In this post, we’ll explore the ways you can safely and ethically use these AI tools to improve your writing, conduct research, and manage your study materials, while understanding the value of human guidance in these tasks.

Using AI Tools as Editors for Your Writing
AI systems like ChatGPT, Claude.ai, Gemini, and Copilot can be useful tools for reviewing and editing your writing. Each tool can help you identify grammar mistakes, improve sentence structure, and suggest ways to clarify your ideas. However, they each approach these tasks in slightly different ways, and all have important limitations—particularly when compared to the personalized feedback that a tutor provides.

• What These AI Tools Can Do:
  • ChatGPT: It can suggest ways to refine your tone and style, while identifying grammatical errors and awkward phrasing. It also offers the ability to summarize and rephrase content to improve clarity.
  • Claude.ai: Claude focuses on high-level improvements, such as refining logical structure and flow, helping you streamline long sections, and enhancing clarity with a focus on reducing complexity in sentences.
  • Google’s Gemini: This AI emphasizes improving clarity and factual accuracy, making it ideal for technical writing, such as science essays.
  • Microsoft Copilot: Copilot is useful for formatting and suggesting improvements in documents like essays, providing inline suggestions while you work on programs like Word and PowerPoint.
• What These AI Tools Cannot Do:
  Despite their capabilities, AI tools lack the human insight needed to fully understand the nuances of your writing. They may propose changes that alter your intended meaning or overlook creative elements such as humor or irony. Additionally, AI cannot assess the depth of your arguments or the originality of your ideas. A tutor, on the other hand, can offer feedback that is deeply attuned to your specific learning goals, style, and strengths. One-on-one guidance helps ensure that you not only improve your writing mechanically but also develop your voice and argumentation skills. AI can help streamline the editing process, but only a tutor can provide the comprehensive, personalized feedback necessary for true improvement.

Using AI Tools as Research Aids
AI tools like Perplexity AI, ChatGPT, Claude.ai, Gemini, and Copilot can assist in the research process, but each has its specific capabilities and limits when it comes to gathering and analyzing information. However, none of these tools can replace the critical thinking and strategic questioning that a tutor provides when guiding you through complex research tasks.

• What These AI Tools Can Do:
  • ChatGPT: Offers general summaries, overviews, and context across a wide variety of topics, which can be helpful for initial research.
  • Claude.ai: Claude excels at distilling key ideas and themes from long texts, making it useful for summarizing dense readings.
  • Google’s Gemini: Gemini is ideal for retrieving factual, technical, or scientific information, summarizing complex subjects with accuracy.
  • Microsoft Copilot: Copilot can help you generate research outlines and organize thoughts while integrating information from other sources like Excel or Word.
  • Perplexity AI: Specializes in retrieving real-time information, helping you locate current and relevant sources quickly. It can link you to peer-reviewed articles and other reputable materials, though you must critically evaluate these sources.
• What These AI Tools Cannot Do:
  AI tools, while useful, cannot evaluate the quality or relevance of their results in the context of your specific assignment. For example, Perplexity AI may find a broad range of sources, but it doesn’t offer the strategic insight a tutor does in helping you narrow your research to what is most relevant for your coursework. Tutors can teach you how to assess sources for credibility, relevance, and bias—skills that AI cannot impart. Additionally, tutors can help you formulate research questions, refine your thesis, and connect ideas in ways that align with your academic goals. AI is a helpful tool for gathering information, but the wisdom of a tutor is irreplaceable when it comes to crafting a strong research foundation.

Ethical and Efficient Use of Perplexity AI for Research
Perplexity AI is particularly useful for finding sources and generating ideas quickly, but it’s important to use this tool wisely and ethically. Relying solely on AI for research risks overlooking the necessary critical thinking steps that a tutor can help you master. Tutors not only teach you how to evaluate information but also how to synthesize it into cohesive, well-supported arguments.

Using AI Tools to Organize Information
AI tools can help you organize study notes and course materials, but they lack the insight a tutor brings in prioritizing what is most important for exams or assignments.

• What These AI Tools Can Do:
  • ChatGPT: You can use it to create study guides or summaries based on class materials. It helps break down complex processes like photosynthesis into simpler components.
  • Claude.ai: Claude can summarize long documents into key points, making it useful for organizing information from dense readings.
  • Gemini: Focuses on creating clear, concise summaries of technical or scientific data, helping students prepare for exams with factual precision.
  • Microsoft Copilot: Copilot can assist with task management and project timelines, integrating well with Microsoft Word or Excel to help you stay organized.
• What These AI Tools Cannot Do:
  AI cannot prioritize what content is most relevant for your specific course, nor can it connect ideas in ways that a tutor might. For example, if you’re preparing for an exam, a tutor can guide you on what topics to focus on based on the syllabus, teacher feedback, and your personal strengths and weaknesses. AI tools can only organize the information you input, while a tutor can strategically tailor your study sessions to ensure that you are focusing on the most important material for success. One-on-one assistance from a tutor provides the depth and customization that AI simply cannot.

Other Core Tasks AI Tools Can Assist With
AI tools are also helpful for enhancing your study routine, but here too, a tutor adds a valuable layer of personalized guidance.

• Generating Practice Problems: In subjects like math or science, AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini can generate practice problems. However, they may not be tailored to your course’s specific difficulty level or learning style. A tutor can create customized practice problems that directly address your weak points and help you improve more effectively.
• Brainstorming Ideas: ChatGPT and Perplexity AI can offer ideas for papers or projects when you’re feeling stuck. However, a tutor can offer more personalized and insightful brainstorming, helping you refine your ideas to match your course’s specific objectives.
• Time Management and Study Planning: AI tools like Copilot can help you break down large projects into manageable tasks, but they cannot adapt these plans based on your individual learning needs. Tutors, on the other hand, can create tailored study schedules that take into account your workload, deadlines, and personal learning pace, ensuring that you stay on track.

Understanding the Limits of AI Models Like ChatGPT, Claude.ai, Gemini, Copilot, and Perplexity
While each of these AI tools brings useful capabilities, they are no substitute for one-on-one tutoring. Here are some core limitations to keep in mind:

• Potential for Errors: AI models often produce inaccurate or misleading information due to incomplete or ambiguous inputs. They cannot evaluate the quality or relevance of information like a tutor can. Tutors help you avoid such pitfalls by guiding you toward the best sources and teaching you how to critically evaluate information.
• Lack of Critical Thinking: AI tools cannot engage in critical thinking, making them ineffective at evaluating complex arguments. A tutor’s role is crucial here, as they can provide in-depth analysis and feedback, helping you develop your own critical thinking skills.
• Overreliance on AI: Relying too heavily on AI can hinder the development of important academic skills, such as problem-solving and independent research. A tutor fosters these skills by offering personalized feedback and challenges that align with your learning style and goals.

Final Thought – Valuable but Only to a Point
AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude.ai, Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Perplexity AI are valuable resources for editing, researching, and organizing study materials. However, they are no replacement for the one-on-one assistance that a tutor provides. Tutors offer personalized feedback, tailored learning strategies, and a deep understanding of your unique needs that AI cannot match. Use AI tools as complementary aids in your studies, but always turn to a tutor for the guidance necessary for true academic success.