Commentary
If you were an adversary of the United States intent on capturing the hearts, minds, and attention of its people, a strategy may be to come at the task from all different angles, right?And if you were ByteDance, the Chinese owners of TikTok, a great time to focus on growing ancillary businesses (similarly targeted to Generation Z youth) would be at the very moment that you risk having to divest your largest holding. So if it’s all so obvious, why is ByteDance’s “AI Homework Helper” app, Gauth, operating so easily under the radar?
A “sticky” homework helper app seems to be a predictable path for a company intent on growing its influence in the United States, and the app has been available since at least 2020 (previously known as GauthMath).
Found in the Apple App Store, via Google Play, and even as a Chrome plugin, Gauth is promoted as a well-reviewed edtech tool. Previously offering primarily “live support” via human tutors, Gauth now integrates generative artificial intelligence (AI) into its service and covers a broader range of subjects than just math, from help in writing essays to digging into subjects ranging from literature to biology.
On the surface, there is little reason to be concerned about the app (besides of course that many parents are unsure how they should feel about homework “helper” applications). Gauth is well-reviewed, and the Google Play Store notes that the app has been downloaded more than 10 million times.
Yet incredibly, there have been red flags about the app for at least two years—even prior to the business pivoting from a live-support to AI model. Influential technology and family watchdog Common Sense slapped a warning label on Gauth in 2022. The organization noted that there was zero clarity within the privacy policy regarding the nature of the data being collected or how the information is being stored, used, or shared. Similar to TikTok, the app also makes use of a user’s camera (you are prompted to take a picture of the homework problem) and touts its “accuracy” in providing feedback and support.
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Despite the Common Sense red flag, Gauth is now ranked No. 27 in Apple App Store Education and No. 6 on Google Play for Android with no sign on either platform of any grave concern. The app’s owner is also listed as Singapore-based GauthTech Pte. Ltd, which denotes little of its parentage.
If you were, in fact, keen on doing some due diligence around the app’s owner, you would land at a dead end when looking up GauthTech Pte. Ltd.
But sometimes, the biggest mysteries have the simplest answers, and usually, if you look for a contact email address in policy documents on websites, you’ll find a needed hint. In the case of Gauth, within the text of the privacy policy and among language related to Brazil, one will find a clue: “If you wish to contact the Data Protection Officer, please contact us: [email protected].”
Similar to TikTok’s privacy policy, the Gauth policy was updated in December 2023. While one might find the long, boring, sometimes startling text of its privacy policy to be similar to other apps, one should give extra weight here to the lack of transparency around the app’s parent and what we know of the control that ByteDance exerts on its domestic businesses.
Like TikTok, the Gauth policy states that it collects a wide range of information. But again, the key is in the latitude it gives itself to analyze and use this and the right it reserves to share your details with third parties or within its “corporate group.” And this brings us full circle, because finding out what “corporate group” is being spoken about is nearly impossible to identify.
The key here is transparency, focus, and a serious effort to protect the data of Americans. We know that the conflicts and wars of tomorrow will be fought differently. And our leaders are warning of how serious the current threat is. The 2023 Director of National Intelligence “Threat Assessment” states it clearly: “Our adversaries increasingly view data as a strategic resource.” But if our leaders are only half paying attention, we have a long road ahead.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
