Homework survives AI when the student's thinking leaves a trace you can read the next morning: a chat transcript, a revision history, or a recording of the student explaining the work. Six tools produce that trace. Flint and Khanmigo put the AI inside the assignment where you can read the conversation. Dr Connor is built for the same job. Brisk replays how a Google Doc was written. Snorkl and Seesaw capture the student's own voice. None of them can prove who did the thinking. They give you something to talk about in the first five minutes of class.
This post is for middle and high school teachers (plus a pick for elementary) who still assign homework and want to know what to do about it now.
How much homework is AI-assisted now?
More than half of US teens say they have used chatbots for schoolwork, and RAND's tracking shows homework use climbing. The Pew Research Center's survey of 1,458 teens and parents, fielded September 25 to October 9, 2025, found that 54% of teens have used chatbots to get help with schoolwork, 10% do all or most of their schoolwork with chatbot help, and 59% say AI cheating is a regular occurrence at their school (Pew, February 24, 2026). A RAND survey, reported by eSchool News, found that AI use for homework among middle school, high school and college students rose from 48% in May 2025 to 62% in December 2025, and that only about a third of students said their school had a schoolwide AI policy (eSchool News, March 25, 2026).
The behavior shows up in the data. Researchers at UC Irvine analyzed 3.2 million math problems on the ALEKS platform over a decade and found that after ChatGPT's release, high school students spent 31% less time on word problems an AI can answer. Under proctored, no-AI conditions, the copy-and-paste pattern disappeared (The 74, July 14, 2026). That finding points to the fix: change where the work happens and what evidence it leaves, rather than hunting for AI after the fact. I explained why detectors are not the answer in Do AI Detectors Work?.
How I chose these six
I searched the 138 tools in the AI Educator Tools directory on October 28, 2026 for tools that give a teacher a record of the student's process, not just the finished product. That meant looking through the Writing, Feedback and Academic Integrity category, which lists 11 tools. I kept six whose main output appears to be a transcript, a replay or a recording. I read each vendor's pricing or product page on October 28, 2026, and where a page gave no price or I could not open it, the entry says so. Nobody paid for placement.
Two things I left out on purpose. AI detectors such as Turnitin return a probability, not a record. And Edpuzzle is a good video-homework tool, but I could not retrieve its current pricing page, so I did not rank it. ChatGPT and Gemini are not here either, because the job is a record the teacher can read. Assume your students already have them: RAND's December 2025 survey found students naming ChatGPT (53%) and Gemini (28%) as tools they use for school.
| Tool | Best for | Evidence you get | Price / free tier (checked October 28, 2026) | Directory security assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flint | A teacher-set AI chat | Chat transcripts | Free up to 80 users; paid from $3,000 a year | Yes (9ine) |
| Khanmigo | A Socratic tutor with logs | Chat history by student | Free for teachers; $4 a month for learners | Yes (9ine) |
| Dr Connor | Secondary homework built for AI | Not verified | Free per the directory | No |
| Brisk | Writing done in Google Docs | Replay of the writing process | Free plan; school pricing by quote | Yes (9ine) |
| Snorkl | Math and science explanations | Student voice and whiteboard | Free teacher plan; no published premium price | Yes (9ine) |
| Seesaw | Elementary responses | Voice, video, photo, drawing | School and district licenses only | Yes (9ine) |
The directory's independent 9ine security assessment flag covers 36 of its 138 tools, and five of these six carry it. That is a security review, not a classroom-effectiveness review, and not a legal clearance. The same record is blank for Khanmigo, Brisk, Snorkl and Seesaw on FERPA (the federal student-records law), as it is for 44 of the 138 tools. A blank in our record is not evidence of non-compliance, and it is not evidence of compliance either.
What is the best AI tool for assigning an AI chat you can read? Flint
Flint is the best fit for a teacher who wants students to use AI on a task and wants to read the whole conversation afterward. The directory lists live session watching with full transcripts and teacher control over how much help the AI gives, and Flint's pricing page says teachers can "watch students work, live" (vendor claims). You build the activity from your own slides or documents, so the AI is working from your lesson, not the open internet.
Watch out for: Flint's pricing page does not say which plan includes full transcripts, so confirm that the free plan has them before you build a unit around it.
Pricing: free for teachers, up to 80 users (students, teachers or administrators); $3,000 a year for up to 150 users, $4,000 for up to 250, $6,500 for up to 500, and a quote above that (Flint pricing, October 28, 2026).
Safety: Flint's plain-language privacy page, last updated August 3, 2026, says children under 13 can use Flint with permission from a parent or school, and that chats are treated as school records (Flint privacy). That page does not say whether student data is used to train AI models. The directory records a vendor declaration that it is not, and declarations of FERPA, COPPA and GDPR alignment. Those are Flint's claims, not an audit, so ask for the training answer in writing in your data agreement.
What is the best tutor that keeps chat logs? Khanmigo
Khanmigo is the best fit when you want a Socratic tutor (one that asks questions instead of giving answers) and a log you can open by student. Khan Academy's help center says that when you and your students have Khanmigo enabled, you can open a student's chat history from the Roster tab, and that you also get an email and an account notification for flagged conversations (Khan Academy support).
Watch out for: access for the students. The pricing page lists $4 a month or $44 a year for learners and says nothing about a free student tier, so a whole-class assignment probably needs a district arrangement. Ask before you assign.
Pricing: free for teachers; $4 a month or $44 a year for learners and parents; district pricing by request (Khanmigo pricing, October 28, 2026).
Safety: the directory has no FERPA, COPPA or GDPR status for Khanmigo, and I did not review Khanmigo's privacy policy in this run, so treat its data handling as unverified until your district has. For a comparison with other tutors, see Best AI Tutors for Students.
What is built for homework in the age of AI? Dr Connor
Dr Connor is the best fit for secondary teachers who want homework designed around AI from the start, because that is its stated purpose; I could not verify how it works. The directory describes it as "AI-proof homework that encourages not offloads thinking," born out of University of Birmingham research into AI and critical thinking. No homework is AI-proof, so read that as a design intent, not a guarantee.
Watch out for: I could not open Dr Connor's own product pages in this run (the page returned no readable content), so how a teacher sets a task and what the teacher sees are unverified. Everything here comes from the directory listing.
Pricing: the directory lists it as free, with a free-for-a-term offer; I could not confirm that on the vendor's site.
Safety: the directory records a minimum age of 13, UK data hosting, a GDPR declaration (the vendor's claim) and no independent security assessment. It also records that Dr Connor collects names, email addresses, age or date of birth, learning and performance data, usage analytics and content students create, and that it does not share data with third parties. A US district will need to review that collection, because the directory lists FERPA as not applicable and says nothing about a student data agreement.
What shows how a student wrote an essay? Brisk
Brisk is the best fit for homework that is writing in Google Docs. Brisk says its Inspect Writing feature gives a video-style replay from first draft to final version, showing what was added, deleted or pasted in, and that it "doesn't produce an accuracy score" but "a factual record of how the document was produced" (vendor claims, Brisk). A pasted block that arrives in one second is a prompt for a conversation, not a verdict. The directory rates Brisk 4.77 from 35 reviews.
Watch out for: the replay works in Google Docs through the Brisk Chrome extension, and the page does not describe a Microsoft Word version. A student can also type out text an AI produced, and the replay will show typing.
Pricing: a free plan at $0 with a standard language model and 20+ tools; Premium and Intelligence plans for schools and districts are custom-priced (Brisk plans, October 28, 2026). The page did not say which plan includes Inspect Writing, so unverified: confirm that first.
Safety: the Inspect Writing page gives no student age range or retention details and links to Brisk's privacy center. The directory has no FERPA, COPPA or GDPR status for Brisk. Get the data agreement before students use it.
What lets students explain math or science aloud? Snorkl
Snorkl is the best fit for math and science homework where the student draws, talks and explains. A review published October 9, 2026 describes students speaking while drawing on a whiteboard, recordings of up to 20 minutes, AI feedback against criteria you set, and a chance to revise (Educators Technology). The directory rates it 4.75 from 12 reviews. For oral exams rather than homework, see AI-Resistant Assessment Tools.
Watch out for: a student can read a chatbot's answer aloud. Explanations of work done in class, or of a problem the student wrote, are harder to fake than explanations of a textbook question.
Pricing: the free teacher plan includes unlimited classes and a limited number of activities (the review does not give the limit), and "Snorkl does not publish a standard premium price" (same review). I could not open Snorkl's own pricing page.
Safety: the directory lists a privacy policy and a "private student content by default" feature (vendor claim) and no FERPA, COPPA or GDPR status. I did not read the policy, so it is unverified.
What works for elementary students? Seesaw
Seesaw is the best fit for elementary homework where the response is a child's voice or a photo of paper work. The directory lists student tools for video, voice, photos and drawing, and a PreK to 6 focus. The directory rates it 5.00 from 3 reviews, which is too few to lean on.
Watch out for: access. Seesaw says it sells licenses to schools and districts and does not offer paid teacher licenses, so an individual teacher may not be able to start on their own.
Pricing: no prices published; contact sales (Seesaw pricing, page last modified June 25, 2026). I could not confirm a free tier from that page.
Safety: the directory has no FERPA, COPPA or GDPR status for Seesaw, and I did not review its privacy policy in this run. With young children, get the district's data agreement and parent notice process in place first.
How to choose: four questions
- Do you want the AI in the assignment or out of it? In: Flint or Khanmigo, where the student talks to an AI and you read the conversation. Out: Brisk, Snorkl or Seesaw, where the AI is not the point.
- What do you need to see the next morning? A transcript points to Flint or Khanmigo. A revision replay points to Brisk. A voice points to Snorkl or Seesaw.
- How old are the students? Seesaw for elementary. Flint's pricing page says it can be used by students of any age. Dr Connor's directory listing says 13 and up.
- Who pays, and who signs the data agreement? Under FERPA's school official exception, a school can share student records with a vendor without parent consent if the vendor performs a service the school would otherwise do itself, is under the school's direct control for how it uses the records, and uses the data only for the authorized purpose (US Department of Education). A tool is "approved" only when your district has done that, whatever a vendor says. See AI Tools a School Can Approve for the five checks.
A worked example: Algebra I, grade 9
This is a plan, not a result. I have not run this lesson, and nothing here measures how well it works. The topic is linear equations from a real situation: comparing two phone plans.
- In class, 10 minutes: students start problem 1 while you circulate. Stanford's Denise Pope recommends this in The 74's reporting because you see who is stuck in the first minutes.
- At home: problem 2 is a word problem the student writes from their own life. California math teacher Al Rabanera uses student-written word problems for the same reason (The 74). Problem 3: record a 90-second Snorkl explanation of the usage at which the two plans cost the same, and why.
- The next morning, 5 minutes: open five responses, play two for the class, and have a short conversation with any student whose explanation does not match what you saw in class. Start with a question, not an accusation.
- If you prefer the chat route: assign the same problem 3 in Flint with the AI set to hint, not answer, and read the transcripts of the students who struggled.
The bottom line
Pick the evidence first, then the tool. If you want to read a conversation, start with Flint or Khanmigo. If the homework is an essay, start with Brisk. If it is math or science, start with Snorkl, and for elementary, Seesaw. Whatever you choose, ask for the data agreement, the age limit and the training policy in writing before students log in. Browse the full list in the directory's tools page, or the AI tools for teachers guide.
Pricing and features checked October 28, 2026. Dan Fitzpatrick is The AI Educator. He writes about AI in education and reviews the tools schools are being sold. More from Dan.
