Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ ChatGPT Study Mode Aims to Teach, Not Just Answer Adam Engst In a blog post, [1]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 emphasized 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. [2]Read original article References Visible links 1. https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-study-mode/ 2. https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-study-mode/ Hidden links: 3. https://tidbits.com/uploads/2025/08/ChatGPT-study-mode.png .