ChatDOC is an AI-powered tool designed to let users “chat” with various documents they upload. I recently wrote about research examining how college students use ChatDOC and similar AI tools to engage with assigned texts. This research found both positives and negatives to the technology, so I decided to check out ChatDOC myself.
After using it with a variety of research documents, I ultimately found it a useful tool for searching within a document for specific items and for doing something such as quickly summarizing a research paper. Though it was also easy to see how certain students could become over-reliant on it and just ask ChatDOC questions about an assigned reading rather than actually read the assigned text.
Despite this potential drawback, I think ChatDOC can be a useful tool for both students and teachers, in specific instances.
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What Is ChatDOC?
ChatDOC is an AI designed to help users interact with PDFs of various types, be it research papers, short stories, or chapters from larger works. Users upload a PDF and then have the opportunity to “chat” with that document, that is speak with a chatbot that bases its answers off of the uploaded text.
ChatDOC can perform tasks such as provide a short summary, search for specific terms, explain the overall theme if it’s a work of literature, or unpack the science in a research paper.
Other similar tools are out there, but ChatDOC is definitely one of the better PDF readers I’ve used. Its free version is quick and easy-to-use, and delivers on its promise of providing an AI that can discuss a given document with users and even quiz them on it.
What My Experience With ChatDOC Was Like?
I found the web version of the tool user-friendly and appreciated ChatDOC’s laser focus on performing one task: reading texts. This is not an AI for everything you might use AI for, but it’s good at what it does in terms of helping with research.
I uploaded a fairly dense essay, “On the Failure of Oracles” by Plutarch, from which I was looking for specific information. ChatDOC summarized some of the key arguments and searched for the sections for which I was looking.
Additionally, I uploaded a famous paper on quantum mechanics by Albert Einstein and others, in which he pointed out unexplained aspects of quantum mechanics. ChatDOC summarized the key arguments and answered questions I had about physics terminology.
On the whole, ChatDOC was helpful despite some limitations. It wasn’t ever inaccurate in its explanations, but it also wasn’t always entirely correct or helpful in its summaries, which tended toward repeated abstract-like statements.
On the plus side, ChatDOC always provided citations for its statements, and when you click on these citations, it takes you to the relevant text and even highlights it. I love this feature, as it’s an example of what I think AI is most useful for: helping humans find relevant bits of information.
ChatDOC could also quickly generate good short answer, multiple-choice, or essay questions based upon documents you upload to it. I could see this helping teachers get started with assessment work based upon a reading, and it could also be a way for students to test their knowledge and understanding of a work, though paradoxically, any student putting in that level of work on their own to understand a reading probably doesn’t really need a tool such as this.
What Does ChatDOC cost?
The free version lets you upload 5 files per day and a total of 10 per month, as well as ask 20 questions per day and no more than 100 per month. It has a 300-page limit to the documents you can upload as well as other limitations.
The Pro account costs $8.99 per month and is free of most of these limitations.
The free version is pretty restrictive, and I found that I quickly met my daily and monthly limits. It’s unfortunate that there is no intermediate tier between the free version and Pro version, which has a fairly steep monthly fee.
Would I Use ChatDOC?
Yes. It’s a useful tool and I would encourage educators to take a look at it, specifically if they are personally conducting research often.
I have mixed feelings when it comes to using it with students. As mentioned, in a small study researchers found that students would often read this type of summary rather than the text itself if given the option. This is obviously less than ideal, but if this feature could somehow be avoided, I could still imagine certain students would find it comforting to have this specific text-type tutor with challenging texts.
So, as with many AI tools, if used the right way, it could potentially be helpful, though there is a real potential for abuse. That said, many students are regularly using other AI tools that are less effective overall than ChatDOC. At least this tool is constantly citing and referring to what is hopefully a high-quality text and potentially getting students to engage with it in new ways.