--- title: Socrates — Understanding begins with a question. description: An AI tutor for people who want to understand — built around Socratic dialogue, durable recall, and a knowledge map. canonical: https://topodrive.top/ last-updated: 2026-10-31 --- # What can I help you understand? Socrates · An AI tutor An AI tutor that helps you think it through, one good question at a time. Stay with a difficult idea. A tutor that asks, listens, and helps you find your own way through. Ask straight away: write the question you are carrying into the box, and keep it going in the app. Question starters: start a dialogue, recall, knowledge map, exam mode. [Try Socrates](https://app.topodrive.top) · [See how it works](https://topodrive.top/product#dialogue) For the questions worth thinking through. ## Follow the question Socrates doesn’t hand you the answer. It asks the next question, until the explanation is yours. Start with what you think. Follow the question a little further. Keep the connection that makes it click. ### Illustrative session: Earth science This is an illustrative session, not a real learner’s transcript. 1. **Your question:** Why is it hot in summer? **You:** ~~Because Earth is closer to the Sun.~~ (later revised) 2. **Socrates asks:** If that were true, what season would Australia have in July? **You:** Summer too… but it’s winter there. So distance can’t be it. 3. **Socrates asks:** Then what is different between the two halves of Earth in July? **You:** The tilt. The north leans toward the Sun, so its light arrives more directly. 4. **Socrates asks:** Can you say it to a friend in one sentence? **You:** Seasons come from Earth’s tilt: it changes how directly, and how long, sunlight reaches each half. What you keep: seasons → axial tilt → sun angle and day length. Distance is crossed out. ## A change of perspective [Original probability illustration](https://topodrive.top/media/socrates-probability-grid-v1.svg): a light gray grid of 100 points with a single black point ringed and labelled one in 100. One in a hundred. ## A tutor that asks before it answers Start with what you think. Follow the question a little further. Keep the connection that makes it click. ### Illustrative recall card: probability This is an illustrative card, not a live conversation. Say the answer in your own words first, then turn the card. - **Front:** Why isn’t a positive test the whole story? - **Back (your explanation, from the session):** If 1 in 100 people has the condition, many positives in a group of 1,000 come from the other 990. A result needs the base rate and the false positives. - **Then rate yourself:** “I remembered” leaves the idea a little longer before the next try; “A bit fuzzy” brings it back sooner. **A connection to keep:** Base rate → False positives. Next time, try explaining this connection without looking at the conversation. [Explore the product](https://topodrive.top/product) ## Explore further - [Follow-up prompts at the seam of an explanation](https://topodrive.top/announcements) — Product updates · May 2026 - [Turn a mistake into the next question](https://topodrive.top/product#mistake-book) — Practice · Mistake book - [Your learning data and privacy](https://topodrive.top/privacy) — Privacy · How we handle data - [Follow a connection across sessions](https://topodrive.top/product#knowledge-map) — Product · Knowledge map - [A field guide to better questions](https://topodrive.top/guide) — Guide · Getting started - [Why we’re building Socrates](https://topodrive.top/about) — Company · Our approach ## One tutor, five ways to learn Move between modes as an idea takes shape: talk it through, test it, connect it and come back to it. The product views below are illustrations. - **[Dialogue](https://topodrive.top/product#dialogue):** think out loud, then go one step further. Socrates asks what you already know and offers the next question instead of the whole answer. - **[Recall](https://topodrive.top/product#recall):** turn a good moment from a conversation into a card, then retrieve it in your own words a few days later. - **[Knowledge map](https://topodrive.top/product#knowledge-map):** concepts you work through become points on a map, linked by the questions that joined them. - **[Exam mode](https://topodrive.top/product#exam):** generate a practice exam on any topic, choose the difficulty and number of questions, then submit for grading. - **[Mistake book](https://topodrive.top/product#mistake-book):** questions you miss in quizzes and practice are collected in one place, ready to redo until they hold. ## Built for real study - **Math that reads like math.** Formulas render cleanly in the conversation. - **Choose your model.** Start with the built-in Beagle model, or match a model to the kind of thinking you want to do. - **Start from a document.** Bring notes or a paper into the conversation instead of an empty page. - **Bring your own key.** Use a provider API key when you want to manage your own model access. - **Your data stays yours.** We do not train on your conversations. Export or delete any session from your account. ## Every question leaves a trace As you learn, Socrates keeps the ideas you worked through and the links between them. Come back weeks later and the thread is still there. [Why maps preserve the path](https://topodrive.top/research/maps-preserve-path/) ## From our research What makes an explanation useful after a conversation ends? Read the questions, methods, and limits behind our work. - [The route back to an idea](https://topodrive.top/research/memory-recall/) — Memory · Aug 12, 2026. Why changing a recall prompt may help a learner reconstruct an idea, rather than recognise an answer. - [When a clear explanation becomes evidence](https://topodrive.top/research/explanation-evidence/) — Explanation · Jul 29, 2026. What explaining something in your own words can reveal about your understanding. - [The value of an honest pause](https://topodrive.top/research/honest-pause/) — Practice · Jul 11, 2026. How making uncertainty explicit changes the next question a tutor can ask. [All research](https://topodrive.top/research) ## Keep reading - [Maps that preserve the path](https://topodrive.top/research/maps-preserve-path/) — Knowledge mapping · Jun 24, 2026 - [What learners keep after a session](https://topodrive.top/research/what-learners-keep/) — Practice · Apr 30, 2026 - [When a tutor should say it is unsure](https://topodrive.top/research/tutor-curiosity/) — Tutoring · Feb 18, 2026 - [Tutorials, lessons and worked examples](https://topodrive.top/learn) — Learn - [The principles we hold to](https://topodrive.top/principles) — Principles - [Long-form documentation](https://topodrive.top/documents) — Documents ## For the way you learn ### Your subject. Your next step. Bring a question from the work already in front of you. Use Socrates to think it through, then take your explanation back into the world. - Work through a concept on your own. - Bring a clearer question to your study group. - Prepare the explanation you want to try in class. The accompanying independent study scene is an editorial illustration. [Find a way to begin](https://topodrive.top/guide) ## Common questions The practical details. - **Is Socrates free?** Yes. The Free tier is permanently free, with no card and no trial clock. Paid tiers unlock more capacity and tools. - **Does Socrates train on my conversations?** No. We do not train on user conversations. Every session can be exported or deleted from the account page. - **Can I bring my own API key?** Yes. The Free tier and every paid tier support bringing your own key for any supported provider. - **Can I cancel any time?** Yes. Cancel any time from your account page. No retention calls. - **What if I change my mind?** Cancel within fourteen days of a first paid plan and write to us for a refund. - **Does Socrates support invoices and VAT?** Yes. Add billing details from the account page and EU customers are billed with VAT applied where required. ## One last question: what will you understand next? Bring it to Socrates. The Free tier is permanently free: no card, no trial clock. Add structure when you need it. [Try Socrates](https://app.topodrive.top) · [Product](https://topodrive.top/product) · [Pricing](https://topodrive.top/pricing) · [中文](https://topodrive.top/zh/) © 2026 Socrates · Built for people who want to understand.