On this page, we explain various AI tools in different categories, namely, scientific tools, chatbots, and image creation tools. For each category, one tool is described in detail, and you will find a summary for other tools. You will also find an additional list of tools that are also interesting for use in education and research.
Unfortunately, not every tool is free to use, and therefore you will find in this list tools that offer limited free functionalities and provide more options if you take out a subscription. To quickly see what applies per tool, we use three categories, namely:
| Free |
Users can use the functionalities without paying. |
| Freemium |
Users can use free (limited) functionalities that can be supplemented with extra functionalities for a fee. |
| Premium |
Users gain access to all functionalities after payment. There are no free or freemium versions available. |
Elicit is an AI-driven tool that helps researchers find relevant research articles. It analyzes the content of papers and automates workflows such as literature reviews, summaries, and text classification, making it easier to find specific information. With an Elicit Plus subscription, it's also possible to export results for various reference managers, such as Mendeley. As a student, you can use Elicit for various purposes, such as:
Accelerating literature research: Elicit automates time-consuming tasks, such as summarizing papers, collecting data, and synthesizing findings. It's also possible to chat with a paper, allowing you to search more efficiently and obtain more information. This saves you valuable time when searching through a large amount of literature.
Finding (hard-to-find) papers: Elicit can help you locate research articles that are difficult to find elsewhere. It searches through an enormous database of more than 200 million academic papers from various disciplines.
Exploring new domains: If you want to explore a new research area, Elicit helps you quickly gain insight into relevant papers and findings.
The added value of Elicit lies in its ability to automate complex tasks, allowing you to work more efficiently and save valuable time. Keep in mind that you should always critically verify the information in Elicit, but it can be a valuable addition to your research. Freemium
Overview of other scientific tools
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Scinapse. Scinapse is an AI search engine that you can use for scientific research. It analyzes the content of papers and identifies trends in each research field. You can use it to easily find relevant research articles (by year) for your research. Freemium |
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Semantic Scholar. Semantic Scholar is a free AI-driven research tool that indexes scientific literature from various disciplines and understands semantics to discover relevant publications. Free |
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Consensus AI. Consensus is a search engine that uses AI to extract and process information from scientific research. It provides evidence-based answers to questions and queries that you give it. Freemium |
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ResearchRabbit. ResearchRabbit is a tool that allows you to compile, explore, and organize your research in a user-friendly and intuitive way. You can create collections of sources, share them with others, and discover similar sources. Free |
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Keenious. Keenious is an AI tool that helps you find relevant articles on a specific topic. You can inform Keenious about your research topic via a PDF, link, or text. You then receive suggestions for other articles/sources related to the subject. Freemium |
Microsoft Copilot is a new AI assistant specifically designed to support Office users in creating documents and other tasks. It works in conjunction with popular Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and more. The development of Copilot has come about through close collaboration between Microsoft and OpenAI. Here are some essential aspects of Microsoft Copilot:
Automatic assistance: Copilot can help you generate text, draft documents, and answer questions. As a student, you can use this assistant to work faster and more efficiently on your school projects and assignments.
Summarizing web content: With Copilot, you can summarize web content. This can be useful when studying long articles, research reports, or academic papers. You can extract the key points without having to read everything yourself.
Content generation: The tool can also generate content based on your input. This can range from generating images using Dall-E 3 (see Image Creation Tools), writing paragraphs, to drafting code. As a student, you can use Copilot to get inspiration or to quickly create a first version of a text.
Enhanced search experience: Microsoft has integrated Bing AI into the search engine, making it more than just a search engine. It now also offers a conversational experience where you can ask questions and get detailed answers. As a student, you can benefit from more accurate and comprehensive search results.
Accuracy and caution: Although Copilot is powerful, it's important to remember that AI will not always be 100% factual. It strives to use reliable sources, but errors can occur. As a student, you must remain critical and verify information.
In short: Microsoft Copilot offers a smarter and more efficient way to work with documents, find information, and generate content. Freemium (You may have access to the full version of Copilot with your institutional account.)
Overview of other chatbots
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ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an AI language model developed by OpenAI. It can engage in conversations and provide answers to a wide range of questions on various topics. There are two versions available. ChatGPT Free uses the dataset of GPT-4o mini and contains information about events up to October 2023. ChatGPT Plus (paid) has access to real-time data. Freemium |
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Gemini. Gemini is a chatbot from Google that collects real-time data from the internet and is capable of writing texts in response to questions you ask. In your prompts, you can use not only text but also your voice, photos, and camera. Freemium |
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Hello History. With Hello History, you can travel back in time and have one-on-one chat conversations with some of the most influential historical figures of all time. The app is capable of increasing users' knowledge about art, music, justice, literature, philosophy, science, technology, and more. The conversations are generated by AI, so don't take them too seriously. Free |
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Perplexity AI. Perplexity is an AI chatbot capable of providing comprehensive answers to questions asked. Through real-time data, it is able to deliver current information on various topics, allowing you to discover and share new information. Freemium |
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Claude. Claude is an AI chatbot developed by Anthropic. It can perform complex tasks such as text analysis, coding, and image interpretation. You can also provide custom instructions, which allow Claude to take into account specific preferences you have for each prompt (for example, that it should consider a particular target audience). Freemium |
DALL-E 3 is an AI system that can generate images and art based on a description in natural language (prompt).
Here are some important points about DALL-E 3:
As a student, you can use DALL-E 3 for various purposes:
In short: DALL-E 3 offers users an accessible way to generate images and/or art based on a description. These images can enhance your test, thesis, or other schoolwork.
You can generate images with DALL-E 3 via Copilot. More information about Copilot can be found above (see Copilot).
Overview of other image creation tools
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Midjourney. Midjourney is a popular, but paid image creation tool that creates content through the Discord program in many different styles. Premium |
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Leonardo AI. Leonardo AI is an AI art tool that allows users to create images in specific styles using existing or trained models. Freemium |
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Adobe Firefly. Adobe Firefly is a comprehensive AI tool that allows you to create images from text, as well as text effects and vector illustrations. After an image is generated, you get additional options to adjust your image. This tool is free to use for teachers on a laptop (as part of Adobe Creative Cloud) and for students on the school's desktop computers. Free |
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Adobe Express: Free image background remover. With this tool, you can easily remove backgrounds from photos or images. Free |
Disclaimer
New generative AI tools appear and disappear on the internet every week. Below, several AI tools that could be valuable in education are mentioned. Most tools are free to test. A small number remain permanently and unlimitedly free, other tools have a freemium option, and some are only available for paid use after the trial period. Keep in mind that with a free service, you always pay with your data!
Do you have tips for other interesting tools? Let us know! On this page, you'll find the contact options. If your tools are suitable, we will add them to this list.
Search for tools
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AI-tools for information literacy. A collection of AI tools that can be used for conducting literature research, compiled by the Information Literacy working group of the collaborating university and college libraries in the Netherlands. |
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AI Educator Tools. This site collects tools made for teachers. The tools are divided into different categories. By using filters, you can quickly find the tool you are looking for. |
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FutureTools. On the FutureTools website, you'll find a collection of various AI tools. This database is updated daily with new tools. Using a simple filter, you can search specifically for tools that can help you. |
Tools that help process information
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NotebookLM. NotebookLM is an AI notebook from Google for analysing uploaded documents. It answers questions, creates summaries, facilitates brainstorming sessions and provides feedback on the content. Another feature is the ability to generate an podcast, allowing you to listen to the document content as well. Free |
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ChatPDF. ChatPDF is an AI-driven chatbot that can answer questions about academic papers. It can summarize papers in PDF format that you upload, identify key concepts, and even generate new research ideas. Free |
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Summarize.tech. This tool is capable of analyzing YouTube videos and creating a summary about them. This way, without having to watch long videos, you can assess in advance whether the content is relevant to you. In the free version, you can analyse a few videos each day. Freemium |
Tools that simplify learning and writing
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Grammarly: Free AI writing assistance. Grammarly is an AI tool that assists you in writing English texts. It is capable of checking written texts for spelling, grammar, and style errors. It also provides you with suggestions for useful additions and/or modifications. Freemium |
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SlidesAI. SlidesAI is a tool that allows you to easily create presentations using text or a topic. You choose the style and can adjust slides afterwards where necessary. It is an extension for Google Slides. Freemium |
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ElevenLabs. ElevenLabs is an AI voice generator designed to assist you with audio-based tasks. With ElevenLabs, you can convert text or audio input into sound in your own language or another language. For example, you can use ElevenLabs to convert a book into speech, or dub an existing video into another language. Freemium |
Tools that help with developing lessons
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NOLEJ: Create e-learning in minutes!. NOLEJ can create interactive learning activities based on text or a file (document with a maximum of 50 pages, video or audio file of up to 60 minutes, or a website/YouTube URL). It analyzes the provided content and offers various learning activities such as quizzes, flashcards, interactive videos, and more. Integration with Moodle and Canvas is possible. Premium |
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QuestionWell. QuestionWell generates a quiz based on text or a YouTube video. Select suitable suggested questions and answers and export the quiz to a digital learning platform such as Moodle or Canvas. Freemium |
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Parlay Genie: AI Generated Discussion Prompts. With Parlay Genie, you generate discussion questions that can be used to start a discussion on a topic of your choice. It's possible to provide the topic through text, an article, or a YouTube video. Premium |
Other tools
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EdrawMind. With Wondershare EdrawMind, as a student, you can make notes, create mind maps, or put your thoughts on digital paper, among other things. Teachers can also use it to create lesson plans, give presentations, and store research materials. Freemium |
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Contextminds. Contextminds automatically generates a mind map or context map from one or multiple sources, making the relationships between different ideas and themes visible. Premium |
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Litmaps. Litmaps can be a useful tool for applying the citation and snowball methods. This tool provides insight into which articles are connected to each other through citations. Freemium |
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Goblin.tools. Goblin.tools contains various AI applications primarily designed to help neurodivergent people with tasks they find difficult. For example, there's a tool to simplify (complex) tasks by breaking them down into smaller steps needed to complete the task, and a tool that can change texts into a style of your choice. Think of styles like professional, informal, or easily readable. Free |
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Poe. Poe is a platform where various AI chatbots are offered, each with its own specialization in areas such as hobbies, translation, programming, and education. Freemium |
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Statista Research AI. The Statista database provides access to statistics, forecasts, dossiers, reports, infographics, and charts. This database is useful for students and teachers who need reliable and up-to-date market information. With this AI tool, you can search using targeted prompts. Accessible to Aeres & VHL |
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Napkin. Napkin AI is an AI tool that converts text into visual representations such as infographics, diagrams, and flowcharts. Users can easily input or generate text with AI, after which Napkin creates professional visuals within seconds. The tool offers customisation options for colour, font, and icons. Napkin is suitable for presentations, blogs, and social media. Freemium |