Google Reveals Secret Acquisition of Socratic, Relaunches App With AI
Google confirms it bought the homework helper app Socratic in 2018 and is now relaunching it on iOS with AI-powered features. The updated app allows students to snap photos or ask questions to receive instant explanations and related videos.
Google publicly discloses its acquisition of the mobile learning app Socratic, revealing that it actually purchased the startup last year. Originally founded in 2013, Socratic begins as a Quora-like question-and-answer community for students before shifting its focus to a utility-based app where users snap photos of homework problems to receive instant explanations.
The transition away from social features causes some backlash among early users, but this strategic shift paves the way for Socratic to become a Google AI-powered product. Now operating under the tech giant, the relaunched iOS app leverages advanced AI to understand and process student queries across a wide variety of subjects, including math, science, and literature.
Students interact with the updated app by either photographing a worksheet or speaking a question aloud, which prompts Socratic to return a top answer alongside detailed explainers, Q&A sections, and relevant YouTube videos. This approach essentially creates a customized search engine tailored specifically for educational content, helping students quickly find the academic resources they need.