OpenAI launches personalized tutor version of ChatGPT

OpenAI wants ChatGPT to be a pocket companion, friend, and now teacher, as the company launches Study Mode, a ChatGPT mode that turns the all-answers bot into a personal tutor.

In Study Mode, ChatGPT no longer provides direct answers to user queries. Instead, when toggled on, users are prompted to explain their goals and knowledge level before any information is given — for example, if you are new to the topic or if you already have a grasp of the material and just need a refresher — and the chatbot provides a personalized lesson in response.

If a user, say a college freshman, needs help with a difficult physics problem, ChatGPT will skip over the introductory stuff and move right into a lesson module. If another only vaguely recalls learning a topic but they now need to answer a specific question, ChatGPT will backtrack. "Let’s learn by doing," ChatGPT responds. "Let’s work through this together.”

Earlier this month, users theorized that OpenAI was set to release a tutor bot after ChatGPT users spotted a new "Study Together" option in the product's settings, which allowed them to problem solve with the chatbot in a kind of Socratic dialogue. The move wasn't surprising to most, as OpenAI has made an aggressive push for AI applications in education, including offering free ChatGPT services to college students nationwide. With Study Mode, company has since confirmed that's exactly what's going on.

"We all know that learning requires friction, it takes effort, curiosity, and grappling with ideas," said Open AI head of education Leah Belsky in a call with press. "So the question on our minds as we built this product was, how can we guide students towards using AI in ways that encourage true, deeper learning?"

As OpenAI explained, the new mode is built on custom system instructions that prompt ChatGPT to mimic an educator, informed by input from pedagogy experts, teachers, and scientists. These include the aforementioned Socratic questioning method, as well as concepts like scaffolded responses and built-in knowledge checks to gauge a users' understanding. The hope is the feature will engage college students, in particular.

"We believe AI will transform the way the world learns," Belsky said.

Belsky explained that OpenAI's additional motivation to design a teacher-like bot was to address a growing problem with the tool's "average" user, who may find it difficult to fine-tune OpenAI's model into something manageable and intuitive to learning. "This is critical, because early research shows that how ChatGPT is used in learning makes a difference in the learning outcomes that it drives. When ChatGPT is prompted to teach or tutor, it can significantly improve academic performance. But when it's just used as an answer machine, it can hinder learning," she said.

OpenAI also announced it's exploring future updates to Study Mode that may include more advanced visualizations, goal-setting and progress tracking, and personalization based on skill and grade.

How to use ChatGPT's Study Mode

Users interested in trying out the chatbot's new Socratic-style can simply toggle on "in ChatGPT's "Tools" setting, located below the prompt window. Study Mode can also be turned on and off during a conversation.

Important to note: the feature is built only on new system instructions and not its own main model, which, the company explains, can result in inconsistent behavior and mistakes across conversations.

The feature is available on Free, Plus, Pro, and Team accounts, and will launch to ChatGPT Edu accounts in the coming weeks.