OpenAI Introduces Study Mode in ChatGPT, Designed to Help Students Learn

OpenAI added a new study mode to its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, ChatGPT, on Tuesday. This new mode is designed to assist students with their homework, test preparation, and learning new topics, without providing answers upfront. Available to all logged-in users, the new feature utilises several learning frameworks to break down problems, encourage students to come up with solutions, and guide them in the right direction. Interestingly, the new feature comes just weeks after Google released a custom version of its chatbot dubbed Gemini for Education.

Study Mode Comes to ChatGPT

In a post, the San Francisco-based AI firm announced the rollout of study mode in ChatGPT. It will be available to the logged-in users on the free, Plus, Pro, and Team tiers. The company plans to make the feature available in the ChatGPT Edu tier in the next few weeks. OpenAI describes the study mode as a learning experience where the chatbot helps users work through the problems step by step.

Study mode on ChatGPT
Photo Credit: OpenAI

This new mode can be found in ChatGPT's Tools menu, which also features Canvas and Deep Research. Here, a new “Study and learn” option can be seen. Selecting this will enable the study mode, and the AI will stop providing direct answers to questions and instead engage the user to come up with the solution.

OpenAI says that the new tool is powered by custom system instructions written by the company's developers. These instructions were created in collaboration with teachers, scientists, and pedagogy experts, and are designed to encourage active participation, develop metacognition and self-reflection, and build curiosity.

Study mode uses interactive prompts based on the principle of Socratic questioning, breaks down information into shorter sections, offers lessons based on the skill level and the grade of the user, and uses quizzes and open-ended questions to analyse the user's progress. To toggle the study mode on and off, users just need to tap on the option.

With the study mode, OpenAI is finally responding to the ongoing discussions about the usage of AI among students and how it can negatively impact their ability to learn and develop important skills. However, this new mode does not come with any parental control or account locking system, which means that if students just prefer to get the answer from ChatGPT, there is no mechanism to prevent it.