ChatGPT’s Study Mode Is Here. It Won’t Fix Education’s AI Problems
1 min read
Summary
Chatbot study mode aims to prevent students from taking homework shortcuts by adopting the Socratic method of open-ended questioning rather than providing direct answers.
It is available to most logged-in ChatGPT users, including those on the free version.
OpenAI’s Leah Belsky says that while ChatGPT can significantly improve academic performance when used as a tutor, it can hinder learning when used as an answer machine.
The immediacy and personalised nature of chatbots, however, may lead to an escalation of students using them to avoid engaging with course content.
OpenAI’s new mode is focused on university students but will partner with learning experts from Stanford to study K-12 influence.
Critics argue that increased reliance on AI tools can hinder critical thinking, and long-term impacts of frequent usage are still unclear.
Hence, whilst ChatGPT’s new study mode guides students through material at their level of understanding, the onus is on the user to ensure they understand the material.
