Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Generative AI: A type of artificial intelligence (AI) that can create new content based on patterns it learns from existing data.
MagicSchool AI: A platform that takes the power of AI and puts it into educators’ and students’ hands to help them use it productively and responsibly in their respective work. With over 1.5 million users, MagicSchool is the most used and loved AI platform built for education in the world.
Want to learn more? Check out our Resources page for free training, certifications, lesson plans and more.
Learn about why we built MagicSchool for teachers and students.
We ensure that each tool on the platform is accompanied by the most best AI model to generate the the strongest outputs. The platform can be powered by various models such as OpenAI’s GPT 3.5 and GPT 4, Anthropic’s Claude models, Google’s Gemini, and others (and is currently powered by multiple models). While we have not trained our own model yet, we may do that in the future if we believe that it will result in better outcomes for our users.
Based on our testing, there is no 1 single model that is best for all tasks. Constant experimentation is conducted to pair tools with different models to determine the most optimal AI model for specific tasks.
We know that AI technology moves fast and therefore, it’s important that we’re able to flex between models to produce the best possible experience for educators. This iterative process ensures that the platform consistently delivers the highest quality responses to its users.
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MagicSchool is proactive with sharing best practices for ethical and responsible usage of AI. We display these upon login for teachers and students as best practices to use AI safely:
Educators:
Check for Bias and Accuracy: AI might occasionally produce biased or incorrect content. Always double-check before sharing with students.
The 80-20 Approach: Use AI for initial work, but make sure to add your final touch, review for bias and accuracy, and contextualize appropriately for the last 20%.
Your Judgment Matters: See AI-generated content as a starting point, not a final solution. Always adhere to your school's guidelines.
Know the Limits: Our AI is not connected with retrieval from the internet yet and training ends at a certain date, so be aware when dealing with recent topics.
Protect Privacy: Don't include personal student details like names or addresses. We strive to promptly remove any accidentally submitted information.
Students:
Your Teacher Can See Your Activity in MagicSchool: Please make sure to follow your school and classroom guidelines when interacting with the AI.
Math Answers Not Reliable: Large Language Models can help you with step by step processes, but can not calculate math solutions accurately. Do not rely on AI for math solutions.
Interacting With An AI Takes Practice: Be clear and specific about what you need, so the AI can give you a better answer. Try again if the first try isn’t what you hoped for!
AI is a Tool - Not a Replacement for Your Thinking: See AI-generated content as something that can help assist you, but not the final solution.
Monitor for Bias and Accuracy: AI might occasionally produce biased or incorrect content. Always double-check important information.
Protect Privacy: Don't include personal details like names or addresses. We strive to promptly remove any accidentally submitted information.
We train the AI models to moderate content so as to decline certain requests based on age, a school based setting, and inappropriate content as layers on top of the base models we use that have their own safeguards in place as well.
We’re also actively improving content moderation and benefit from being the most used AI platform for education with over 1.5 million users who give us feedback when they discover an issue. Find a bug or content that you think MagicSchool shouldn’t display? E-mail us at hey@magicschool.ai and we’ll address it.
As a teacher, school, or district bringing on AI systems to prepare for the future, it’s important to also understand that there is randomness associated with the technology that is inherent to being generative. Students will find creative ways to get around the safeguards at times despite our best efforts - we’re aware of this and yet, still think it's important that students have access to AI.
We’re building MagicSchool for this reason precisely - so students learn about responsible use under the guidance of their teachers safely rather than on their own (teachers can observe all interactions by the students of the tool on their dashboard). Teachers can help bring students inside the lines when they color outside of them - which is something very familiar for educators who have had students use technology inappropriately.
That said, we do a lot to moderate content to make this as safe as possible for an education setting (and much safer than open ended systems like ChatGPT), we're actively improving moderation. We also have many educational resources for teachers and students and notices for best practices before usage by students and teachers that are accepted before usage as well built into the product.
We're always open to feedback and will grow and responsibly roll this out as we grow. Please report any issues to us at hey@magicschool.ai and it will help us improve moderation.
We built MagicSchool from the ground up for the privacy and security needs of schools and districts. We do not sell your data, do not use PII to train models, and have world class security and privacy standards. You can find up to date and comprehensive policy documentation on our privacy page here: www.magicschool.ai/privacy
Students: We do not restrict ages for usage for the student platform (as assigned and monitored by an educator from their dashboard).
While ChatGPT's policy for students 13 or older, this policy does not apply to the APIs that we employ in our platform. The API from OpenAI does not restrict the age of the end-users for applications developed using the API like MagicSchool.
In our case, we've designed the app to be suitable for students under 13, in compliance with relevant laws like COPPA, ensuring the content is appropriate and children's privacy is protected. So, while direct use of ChatGPT is for those 13 or older, our app responsibly extends the benefits of this technology to younger students, adhering to legal and safety standards. However, the decision on the appropriate age to use our platform rests with the local school or district’s policies and users should follow those - we defer to your policies for usage and MagicSchool for Students is always monitored from a responsible adult on the teacher dashboard who can see all interactions.
Educators: Educators must be 18 years or older to use the educator portion of the platform and to launch Student Rooms.
Educator: This is best explained on our Work With Us page by scrolling down and reading the features chart and FAQ below it.
Student: Student is currently free for all users through July 1, 2024 (the end of the school year for most schools in the US). After that, there will be some limitations on the platform similar to those on the Educator version between Free, Enterprise, and Plus.
We always are adding to our suite of exports to make our platform more interoperable where it makes sense (ie. 1-click exports to Google, Microsoft, and more) - but most of our users prefer the experience as a standalone platform. The most robust experience for using MagicSchool will always be on our native WebApp.
Also, teachers can use the Google Chrome extension if they'd like to carry MagicSchool with them wherever they go in other LMS’.
Educator: Yes, for free users you can login with Google or Microsoft. For AI Innovators Partners, we offer SSO with any provider.
Student: With MagicSchool for Students newly launched, it is joined and monitored by teachers by shared student “join” links similar to platforms like Kahoot. By next school year (25-26), for the student product we’ll offer identity based sign-in by students for AI Innovators partners so they can tie AI usage to student accounts as an option.
For partners in our AI Innovators Program, we give access to high level data to monitor teacher usage, and soon, student usage of the product. You can expect that we will also give greater localized control over the system to you over the course of time.
Believe us when we say, “soon!” - it’s our calling card. We launch new tools and features all the time, always inspired by your suggestions and helping to solve your challenges with AI. You can share these with us on our chat in the bottom right corner of the app or email us directly at hey@magicschool.ai with your suggestions.
