What is CS50.ai?
CS50.ai is the AI teaching assistant from CS50, Harvard's well-known introductory computer science course. Known as the CS50 Duck, or ddb (duck debugger), it is an adaptation of ChatGPT built with support from Microsoft and OpenAI, and it uses CS50's own lecture material to answer questions about the course.
The duck is tuned to behave like a good tutor rather than an answer machine. It leads students towards a solution with hints and questions instead of writing the code for them, in the spirit of rubber duck debugging, and aims to give students something like office hours around the clock. CS50 allows students to use its own duck while treating other AI tools that give answers as off limits in its courses. You log in with a GitHub account, and the same duck is also built into CS50's online version of Visual Studio Code at cs50.dev.
Main Features
- AI tutor that gives hints, not finished answers
- Trained on CS50 lectures and course material
- Helps debug code by talking it through
- Available any time, like 24/7 office hours
- Also built into cs50.dev for coding in the browser
How to Get Started with CS50.ai
- Go to cs50.ai.
- Log in with your GitHub account.
- Ask the duck about a concept or paste the code you are stuck on.
- Follow its hints and try the next step yourself.
CS50.ai Pricing
CS50.ai is free to use. It is provided by Harvard's CS50 with support from Microsoft and OpenAI, and has no paid plan.
Who Should Use It?
- Students taking CS50x online
- Beginners learning to code in C, Python or SQL
- Teachers running CS50 in their classes
- Self-taught programmers who want guided help
- Anyone who learns better from hints than answers
CS50.ai Alternatives
- Llama Tutor: Free open-source AI tutor that teaches any topic.
- Khanmigo: Khan Academy's AI tutor and teaching assistant.
- Google Learning AI: Google's free AI learning companion for exploring topics.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CS50.ai free?
Yes. The CS50 Duck is free for students and teachers to use.
Will the CS50 Duck write my code for me?
No. It is designed to guide you towards an answer with hints and questions rather than give you the solution outright.
Is it allowed in CS50 courses?
Yes. CS50 says using its own AI tools, including the duck at cs50.ai and cs50.dev, is reasonable, while other answer-giving AI tools are not.