Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can be useful for any college student. These AI-powered apps can help with everything from the initial stages of research and creating study materials to writing, proofreading, and citation help.

Reminder: AI should be used to enhance — not replace — your work. Know your institution’s policy on the use of AI, and keep in mind that the policy can change from course to course.

1. Google Gemini

Google has a family of AI-powered assistants and apps called Gemini. College students seeking study help can use the basic version of Gemini for free with a personal Google account, and there are also free and paid plans available for Gemini for Students.

  • The basic version of Gemini serves as a general AI assistant. Use it to help organize your thoughts, act as a brainstorming tool, and get suggestions for sources and how to structure your paper.
  • With a student plan for Gemini, you can turn your course materials into custom quizzes and generate flashcards and study guides. Ask it to research a complex topic for you, and you’ll receive a comprehensive report with sources and citations (make sure to double-check all information independently). There’s also an Audio Overview feature, which turns lectures or reading material into a podcast-style audio output.

2. Google NotebookLM

NotebookLM is another product in the Google family of AI products. Whereas Gemini is a general-purpose AI chatbot, Google bills NotebookLM as an AI-powered research assistant.

NotebookLM bases its research on documents you upload (PDFs, Google Docs, web pages, YouTube transcripts, etc.). It then provides clear citations for its work and shows you the exact quotes from your sources. Use it to:

  • Get simple explanations of complex ideas
  • Receive help on presentations, including outlines with key talking points and supporting evidence
  • Identify trends and think of new ideas based on market and competitor research

Like Google Gemini, you can use NotebookLM to create study aids, such as study guides, quizzes, and flashcards. You can also use NotebookLM to generate mind maps.

NotebookLM has both a free and a paid version (known as NotebookLM Plus).

Please note: Purdue Global students have access to the free versions of Google Gemini and NotebookLM through Purdue Global’s Google Workspace.

3. ChatGPT

For many people, ChatGPT was their first hands-on experience with AI. It is simple, free, and intuitive. It’s a great tool for college students — use it to ask quick questions, simplify complex topics, brainstorm ideas, and get help structuring a paper. Beware, though: Much like Wikipedia, ChatGPT is not considered a credible source.

ChatGPT has both free and paid versions.

4. Anara

Anara AI was designed with students and research teams in mind. While Gemini, ChatGPT, and similar general-purpose AI models are good for general information gathering, Anara offers specialized research capabilities designed for academic work.

Anara accesses your curated research library and reputable academic databases, including PubMed, arXiv, and JSTOR. Use it to search for papers, find key text, organize your research, and create flashcards.

Anara AI has both free and paid versions.

5. NaturalReader

If you’re an auditory learner or if English is not your native language, NaturalReader may be for you. It provides AI-powered text-to-speech capabilities. Use it to convert PDFs, documents, images, and more into spoken words. It can handle more than 50 languages and offers over 200 AI voices for the output.

NaturalReader has both free and paid versions.

6. StudyX

StudyX is an AI homework helper app. Use it to turn lectures, PDFs, and videos into study notes that highlight the key points. You can also take a picture of the material and ask for a detailed breakdown to better understand the answer to a problem. And, like many study helper apps, you can generate practice tests and flashcards to help you retain the information.

StudyX has both free and paid versions.

7. Traverse

Traverse calls itself “a learning tool based on cognitive science.” It combines mind mapping, note-taking, and spaced repetition flashcards in one place, claiming to cover the full learning cycle. It comes with a personalized learning dashboard where you can track and visualize your progress and identify areas for improvement.

Traverse has both free and paid versions.

>>Read More: College Note-Taking Tips for Students

8. The Drive AI

The Drive AI calls itself “the world’s first agentic workspace.” Agentic AI is an advanced form of AI that focuses on autonomous decision-making. It consists of machine learning models known as agents, which can mimic human decision-making and solve problems in real time.

College students can use The Drive AI to set goals and make a study plan. You can organize, rename, and analyze all your study materials, and it automatically organizes lecture notes and readings into folders. Use it to generate summaries and flashcards from PDFs and documents.

The Drive AI has both free and paid versions.

9. Jenni

Jenni AI is a research and academic writing assistant. It can do everything a general AI homework helper can do, including summarizing complex passages and generating flashcards and quizzes.

Jenni also integrates ScholarAI to support scholarly source discovery and in-text citation. It has an AI autocomplete feature that offers suggestions if you struggle with writer’s block. It can help with brainstorming, writing, editing, and generating outlines. Jenni comes with several tools, including a thesis statement generator and a paraphrasing capability.

Jenni has both free and paid versions.

10. Turbo AI

Upload content (lectures, videos, and documents) to Turbo AI, and it will generate study materials, such as summaries, flashcards, and quizzes. There’s also an AI chatbot for quick questions.

Billed as “the last notetaker you’ll ever need,” it works while you work — making editing suggestions, flagging potential problems, and adding comments and things to consider.

Turbo AI has both free and paid versions.

>>Read More: How to Take Good Notes in College: Top Tips for Success

11. Owlift

One of the first standout features you’ll notice about Owlift is its sarcasm feature — yes, you can toggle its sassiness level off and on for more engaging learning (if sarcasm is, indeed, engaging to you). This is another great tool for international students as it outputs in over 30 languages.

Use it to explain complex topics, generate quizzes and flashcards, and formulate mind mapping exercises.

Owlift has both free and paid versions.

12. Otter

Otter.ai is an AI-powered meeting assistant. Because it transcribes lectures and meetings in real time, college students can use it for automated note-taking. This AI tool can also generate lecture summaries, insights, and action items.

You can ask Otter’s chat assistant questions about past lecture transcripts, which can be a real time-saver. The chat assistant can also help with other tasks such as ideation and organization.

Otter has both free and paid versions.

13. Claude

Claude AI is another AI assistant that offers content summarization, editing help, and decision-making analysis. College students can use Claude to get visuals for stats, create interactive charts, generate practice quizzes, and get feedback on writing. It can also transform text descriptions into simple visual representations such as flowcharts.

Claude offers free and paid versions.

Technology Improves Access to Education

Purdue Global believes in using technology that can help you meet your career goals. AI tools can help you organize your thoughts, brainstorm, research, get citation assistance, and more.

Purdue Global is 100% online, and you can choose from over 175 programs so you can fit earning a degree into your busy life. Request more information today.

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Purdue Global

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