KI-Toolbox

Artificial intelligence is already a factor at many universities. With the vast number of applications, teachers can quickly become overwhelmed. In addition, it is often not clear how good individual applications actually are. We present a selection of AI tools for various areas of application at the university.

Artificial intelligence in the university context

Among the AI tools that are available in their multitude and ever-growing number of AI applications, there are true all-rounders and special tools. Although it is always relevant on which data sets the underlying models were trained and how complex they are – see Stanford University’s distinction between foundation models and task-specific models – the models are being integrated into each other or tailored to specific application scenarios in increasingly complex software. In this article, we have summarized the most useful AI tools in the university context. The selection is based on the following four categories: usefulness in the university context, usability and functionality, accessibility as well as ethical and moral aspects. However, the field is changing so rapidly that we are constantly updating this article, and it is also advisable to stay up to date yourself to keep an eye on the latest developments and trends.

Data Protection & Accessibility

The data protection and accessibility of the applications presented here is not clear. TH Cologne can only guarantee data protection for the ChatGPT interface. That’s why you should not publish any data-sensitive content via AI applications!

Chatbots – the all-rounders of generative AI

A chatbot can communicate with users like a human to help them with various tasks. A Large Language Model is an advanced language algorithm that has been trained on large text data to understand and generate human-like speech. Chatbots often use such models to respond intelligently to requests.

THKI Chat is a didactic interface based on the state-wide accessible KI:connect.nrw in the KI:edu.nrw project. It offers university members the opportunity to use current AI models such as ChatGPT-4.1 from OpenAI and Open Weight models such as LLaMa via a protected web interface. THKI Chat’s features include text generation and comprehension, file upload, searchable chat history and multilingualism. This means that THKI Chat can be used in teaching for organizational purposes (e.g. creating a seminar plan) as well as for interactive use by students (writing workshop, feedback generator, tutor). You can find more information about THKI Chat here.

HuggingChat is a versatile chatbot that makes it possible to use different open source AI models after registration.

PerplexityAI is characterized by its versatile, registration-free interface with GPT 3.5 connection, real-time web search functions, the provision of source references, and the optional, chargeable integration of more powerful models. Images, texts and PDF files can also be uploaded for editing.

Writing, translating, revising

AI tools are certainly suitable for working on your own texts. For example, you can check whether your texts are grammatically and orthographically correct. This is even possible if you upload entire documents and have them checked by the AI. The translation of texts is also possible. However, the focus must always be on personal achievement in (academic) writing. A handout for students on this complex topic can be found here.

An AI-based writing assistant from Cologne that offers grammar, spelling, and style checks, with input or file upload options.

A translation service, also from Cologne, which translates texts into 33 languages without registration, with high accuracy and document translation function.

A free writing assistant for grammar and spelling checks with text correction and rephrasing functions, free of charge, open source, and with many add-ons.

Researching, capturing, summarizing

Scientific research takes time and cannot be completely replaced by AI tools. However, these tools are suitable for scanning more efficiently, which literature can be useful for your own scientific work. Particularly noteworthy are functions that place literature and keywords in relation to texts by other authors.

ResearchRabbit is a free AI application that was developed to support scientific research. It allows you to search for scientific articles, shows references and also allows you to create your own collection of articles and visualize them in a topological network structure. ResearchRabbit is an extremely useful tool for research purposes as it offers a variety of applications. Registration is required.

NotebookLM is an AI application that can be used to create personalized knowledge repositories (notebooks) from various sources (PDF files, text documents or web links). These collections can then be questioned in a chat, and summaries or podcast conversations can be created about the content. The sources to be considered can be selected individually. A Google account is required to use NotebookLM.

The AI application Smallpdf AI PDF Summarizer is based on ChatGPT and makes it possible to interact with uploaded PDF files, i.e. to ask questions about the content of the file in a chat. It is also possible to summarize the entire content as well as specific sections of the text. SmallPDF AI PDF Summarizer can therefore be used to support the evaluation of scientific articles and other text forms. Smallpdf AI PDF Summarizer can be used free of charge and without registration.

Elicit is an AI application for supporting scientific research and also offers the option of analyzing PDF files. Elicit is free to use but requires registration.

Litmaps is an AI application for visualizing referenced articles and texts in a topological network structure. Litmaps can be used free of charge and without registration.

Creative design with AI

Artificial intelligence is able to generate new images from text input. The more detailed the description, the more accurate the result. Existing photos or videos can be manipulated with the help of AI.

Firefly is an AI application from Adobe that can be used to generate and edit images and video clips in a variety of ways. It responds to text input (prompts) from the user in natural language. Firefly is integrated into Adobe applications such as Photoshop but is also available as a separate web application. Members of TH Cologne can use Firefly free of charge via campusID.

StableDiffusion AI Image Generator is a text-to-image generator based on an open source model.

Bing Image Creator is a text-to-image generator from Microsoft that uses the DALL-E 3 AI model. It is characterized by its user-friendliness and fast image generation. The application is free to use, but requires registration.

AI for open educational resources and science communication

AI tools such as TTSfree, Pika, and Riffusion can be useful for communicating scientific content with or for students and for creating open educational resources. TTSfree enables the conversion of texts into audio tracks, Pika is used for video creation and Riffusion offers options for generating music with vocals.

Important information on correct licensing when using AI tools can be found in this article.

Any questions?

Contact digitalelehre@th-koeln.de!

Links

Zentrum für Lehrentwicklung (ZLE)

The ZLE is a central academic institution. It offers all members of the university a platform for the exchange of experiences between colleagues as well as access to current teaching and learning research and scientific support. Teachers can develop, test, systematically reflect on and publish teaching concepts with the support of university and media didactics.