“Why should I pay for a tutor when ChatGPT is free?”

That depends entirely on what you want. If what you want is something available at any hour that will walk your student through the steps and hand them full solutions at the drop of a hat — then you don’t need me for that. I’d be lying if I told you I could outperform ChatGPT at that.

I’d also be lying if I told you I don’t use AI myself. I do — a lot. A very large share of my own working day involves it. So this isn’t a scared tutor trying to protect his job from the robots. This is someone who uses the tools telling you where they stop being enough.

Here’s what I can actually offer:

• I’m not just answering — I’m watching. I pay constant attention: reading every expression, noticing how long it takes to answer, catching the first half of a sentence before your student cuts themselves off with “never mind, it’s wrong” — and then stopping to ask what they were going to say. That unfinished thought is almost always where the real understanding, or the real gap, is hiding. After just a few sessions, I’ll know what it means when they scratch the left side of their neck, or suddenly “can’t find” their notes, or what they really mean when they say they’re stressed about one specific thing. None of that shows up in a chat window.
• I know how hard to push, and when to stop. That’s what all that watching is for. AI will happily send a kid down a rabbit hole or spoon-feed them without checking for true understanding. A student who’s stuck but still thinking needs me to stay quiet and let them work. A student who’s about to shut down needs something else entirely. From the outside those two look almost identical. I know the difference, and I coach accordingly.
• I’m a person your student actually knows. Sometimes a kid needs to vent for five minutes and then they’re fine. Or, they might be on the verge of dropping the class, and I’m there to talk it through and help decide whether that’s the right move. Other times, they might be spiraling the night before a test, and I’m there to remind them of everything they do know and all the work they’ve already put in. And sometimes what’s needed more than anything is to stop and have a good laugh, and I’ll make sure they get one. A chatbot will say kind things to anyone who asks it to. It lands differently coming from someone who watched them get it wrong for three weeks and then watched them get it right.
• And underneath all of it — I’m invested in how this turns out. If something important comes up between sessions, like a test that went sideways or a program that won’t compile the night before it’s due, I’ll hop right on a call, whatever time it is. When your student finally gets something they’ve been fighting for three weeks, I’ll be right there to celebrate. And when a session doesn’t land, I’m the one losing sleep that night, trying to figure out what I missed.

If you haven’t tried using AI for academic help yet, you should! But if you try it and find it’s not getting your student what they truly need — like seeing the right answers but not understanding — then let’s talk. I’m here, and I’ll have their back.