Choosing an AI Model

Scholarly lets you choose which AI model powers your conversations, slide decks, and video lectures. Different models have different strengths -- swapping between them is a good habit when one output does not quite hit the mark.

Where You Can Pick a Model

You can pick an AI model in three places:

• AI Chat -- Open the model menu above the chat input to switch models for a new or existing conversation.
• AI Slides -- Pick a model in the slide creator before you click Generate.
• AI Video Lectures -- Pick a model in the video creator before you click Generate.

Your last selection is remembered the next time you open that feature.

Available Models

The exact list updates as new models are released. Common options include:

• GPT 5.4 -- The recommended premium OpenAI model. Good at following instructions and producing well-structured writing. Best for summaries, study guides, and structured explanations.
• GPT 5.4 Mini -- Faster and lighter. Great for quick slide decks or short video lectures when you care more about speed than deep reasoning.
• Gemini 3.5 Flash -- Google's premium reasoning model. A strong pick when you want careful explanations, long-form analysis, or source-heavy work.
• Gemini 3 Flash -- Fast, capable, and efficient. The default for AI Video Lectures and Slides -- a good first pick for everyday answers and lightweight content generation.
• Grok 4.3 -- Creative, conversational, and confident. Good for brainstorming, essay outlines, and casual explanations. In AI Chat it also offers an Instant mode for fast replies when you do not need deep reasoning -- turn the Thinking toggle off to use it.
• Kimi K2.6 -- A 1-trillion-parameter open model from Moonshot AI with a 262k context window. Strong at long documents, structured analysis, and multi-step reasoning.
• Claude Sonnet 4.6 (beta) -- Anthropic's flagship. Strongest at long-document analysis, careful reasoning, and nuanced explanations. Pick it when you want the model to really think through a problem.
• Claude Haiku 4.5 -- Anthropic's fast everyday model. Lighter and quicker than Sonnet, still strong at writing and reasoning. Good default when you want Claude's style without waiting.

How to Pick

A few simple heuristics:

• Need a quick answer, outline, or short video lecture? Start with Gemini 3 Flash or GPT 5.4 Mini.
• Need deep reasoning or step-by-step math? Try Gemini 3.5 Flash or a reasoning-enabled GPT model.
• Want creative phrasing or brainstorming? Try Grok 4.3 or Kimi K2.6.
• Reading a long PDF or working through a careful explanation? Try Claude Sonnet 4.6 -- it handles long documents and nuanced reasoning especially well.
• Want Claude's writing style without the wait? Try Claude Haiku 4.5 -- fast, lightweight, still thoughtful.
• Not sure? Start with GPT 5.4 Mini for speed, or GPT 5.4 on a paid plan when you want the strongest OpenAI reasoning.

If the first result does not feel right, regenerate with a different model. Slide decks and video lectures are quick to re-run, and each model gives a noticeably different style.

Thinking Toggle (Chat Only)

In AI Chat, you can enable a Thinking toggle in the model menu. When turned on, the model reasons through the problem before replying -- which produces better answers for complex questions, math, and multi-step problems.

• Off -- Fastest responses, no visible reasoning step.
• On -- The model thinks before answering. You see a live progress summary while it reasons, which collapses into a "Thought for X seconds" block when done.

Not every model supports thinking. Some models always reason and do not show the toggle because thinking is built in. Both Claude models support the Thinking toggle -- it is especially useful on Claude Sonnet 4.6 for hard, multi-step problems. Grok 4.3 supports it too: leave Thinking on for careful answers, or turn it off for Instant replies when speed matters more than depth.

Tips

• Experiment! The fastest way to find your favorite is to generate the same slide deck or short lecture with two different models and compare.
• Some chat models require a paid plan. Model choices inside AI Slides and AI Video Lectures follow those features' normal plan limits.
• For creative or exploratory work, a different model can unlock a completely different angle on the same source material.