ChatGPT Study Mode Aims to Teach, Not Just Answer

In a blog post, OpenAI writes:

[ChatGPT’s] use in education has also raised an important question: how do we ensure it is used to support real learning, and doesn’t just offer solutions without helping students make sense of them?

We’ve built study mode to help answer this question. When students engage with study mode, they’re met with guiding questions that calibrate responses to their objective and skill level to help them build deeper understanding. Study mode is designed to be engaging and interactive, and to help students learn something—not just finish something.

While AI stands for “artificial intelligence,” ChatGPT’s new study mode shows how it can serve as “augmented intelligence” rather than the often irresponsible “automated intelligence” that encourages people to shirk real work. It shifts the balance from “the ends justify the means” toward “the journey is the reward.”

I’m intrigued by OpenAI’s addition of study mode to ChatGPT, and I plan to explore what it can teach me. As a quick test, I asked ChatGPT about setting up a Venmo Business account for the Finger Lakes Runners Club—a topic where I understand the general concepts but lack direct experience. While both modes provided similar information, study mode presented it in a more methodical way that aided understanding. Neither response offered much that I didn’t already know, but study mode’s response would have been a better introduction for someone new to the topic.

You can toggle study mode anytime during a conversation by clicking the Tools menu in the Mac app or desktop version (tap the + button in the iPhone app) and choosing “Study and learn.” Give it a try next time your curiosity extends past a direct answer to increasing your understanding.

Separately, OpenAI says that ChatGPT is on track to reach 700 million weekly active users, up from 500 million at the end of March and four times higher than the end of last year. This AI thing may not be a flash in the pan.

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