Teaching With AI: ChatGPT Study Mode Transforms Student Learning

Forbes

30-07-2025

ChatGPT Study Mode provides students with a Socratic interface and experience designed to foster ... More active learning and idea exploration rather than just passively receiving answers.
Over the last three years, generative artificial intelligence and large language models like ChatGPT have caused much concern as people speculate whether ChatGPT will replace teachers, serve as a helpful teaching assistant, or make students too lazy to learn anything. With the introduction of ChatGPT Study Mode, OpenAI strongly argues that there is a pedagogical role an AI can play productively; essentially, it can shift from being an oracle that provides answers to a Socratic mentor guiding students through a process of learning discovery.
ChatGPT Study Mode As Learning Companion
Traditional student interactions with ChatGPT have often involved questions that provoke direct, comprehensive responses: lengthy explanations, step-by-step solutions, or even complete essays. While experienced users have been able to use these interactions as the basis for tutoring sessions, for the vast majority, that has not been the case. This is a problem because research shows that when students use ChatGPT as a tutor, their academic performance improves. But when it was used simply to generate answers, it often hindered learning.
Part of the reason for this gap between power users and typical users is the route by which students have become aware of ChatGPT. According to Leah Belsky, OpenAI's VP of Education, 'Students are adopting AI via social media, through their friends, and often ahead of teachers and parents. Given this widespread use, we set out to understand how students are using ChatGPT, and how we might make it an even better tool for education.'
ChatGPT Study Mode Is Built On Learning Science
What makes Study Mode different is not just tone or interface, but pedagogical design. OpenAI worked with education researchers and learning scientists from more than 40 institutions worldwide in developing the tool. These experts provided both evaluations of AI responses and model answers from skilled teachers and tutors that the AI is trained to emulate.
Part of being a good learning companion is understanding what a learner already knows and what they are trying to learn. Toward that end, Study Mode is constantly assessing students and context to determine how it can best serve this role, prompting students with questions, calibrating to their level of understanding, and encouraging them to work through problems rather than simply read about them.
The result is a student experience that mimics consensus good teaching. For instance, a student asking about game theory will no longer receive an instant mini-lecture. Instead, the system first asks: 'What are you trying to learn? What's your background?' This lets the AI tailor its responses not just to the topic, but to the learner. In addition to asking clarifying questions and probing a student's assumptions, it will also adapt to their pace of learning. This ensures it avoids dumping too much information at once, instead scaffolding its response to promote understanding one concept at a time. If a student tries to evade this process and just asks for the answer, the AI will resist the request and instead redirect the student to engage with the material. The goal is to help students build confidence through effort and to lower the barrier to entry for deeper academic exploration.
ChatGPT Study Mode Challenges And Next Steps
While Study Mode is a powerful shift, it raises important questions. For example, can educators or parents enforce its use? Not yet. Admin-level controls for schools or education platforms are not available at launch, though OpenAI confirmed it is exploring that functionality in future updates.
There is also the perennial concern that students might simply toggle back to the default ChatGPT interface when they get frustrated. Belsky acknowledges this risk but argues that motivation is the stronger variable: 'If students feel confident they can learn, and if the learning experience is engaging, they are more likely to stay with it.'
That sense of engagement may turn out to be the product's most important feature. Where early learning software emphasized static content and repetition, Study Mode creates an interactive, dynamic, and responsive dialogue—the kind most often found in small group seminars or one-on-one tutoring sessions. It's AI as educational dialogue, not as content delivery.
ChatGPT Study Mode Captures Learning Process
One of the most intriguing long-term possibilities raised by Study Mode is the opportunity to capture and analyze the dialogue between student and AI as a form of assessment. Unlike traditional testing, which evaluates static outputs, these dialogues could offer a window into how students think, how they revise their understanding, and how their reasoning improves over time.
One of the most limiting aspects of traditional classroom instruction, compared to one-on-one teaching, is the inability to pay attention to everyone all the time. When there is just a single instructor and student, there is no need for written examinations because the teacher observes the learning process as it happens. The great potential for Study Mode as it develops is that as the dialogue between student and AI becomes more natural, it will be possible to capture more of the underlying learning process, rather than just the products of learning created by students. Ultimately, the process is what will illuminate understanding and confusion, and changes to the process will lead to improvement.
Chat GPT Study Mode: A New Chapter In AI And Education
ChatGPT Study Mode is a promising work in progress. It reflects a deliberate move away from answer automation and toward thoughtful, personalized guidance. As students and educators explore its capabilities, it has the potential to embody a vision for AI in education centered on what a student can learn rather than what the AI might say next.