The American company wants to reposition its chatbot chatgpt as an educational tool. But the issue of the membership of students and teachers remains whole.
By launching the “study and learning” mode for its chatgpt interface in July 2025, Openai continues its strategic moult to the educational sector. The company intends to go beyond the image of a digital cheating tool to offer a structured learning framework, focused on critical reflection and intellectual autonomy.
This new feature, now accessible to all users, including those of the free version, aims to replace ready -made answers with Socratic support, based on guided matters, reasoning tracks and progressive support.
A tool designed to “tutoring” rather than responding
Developed in collaboration with researchers in cognitive sciences and teachers, study mode is based on the principle of Strggle productive, or “useful difficulty”: the idea that learning is more effective when it requires a sustained mental effort. Concretely, Chatgpt does not immediately give the answer, but leads the user to build it by himself.
The new “study” mode of Chatgpt – Image generated by AI
“When Chatgpt asks for teaching or playing the role of tutor, this can considerably improve academic performance,” says Leah Belsky, vice-president in charge of education at Openai.
An offensive assumed in the field of education
Openai no longer hides its ambitions in the educational field. After having won over companies with its “team” and “Enterprise” offers, the company now targets universities, high schools and training platforms. It has multiplied partnerships: in the United States, Arizona State University is already testing chatgpt integration in its educational environments. In Europe, Mistral AI, a French nugget, also tries to seduce educational establishments by valuing a more transparent and sovereign approach.
A tool that questions the teacher’s place
However, the arrival of this mode in the classes will not be done without debate. If some see it as an opportunity to better support students in difficulty or differentiate the courses, others wonder about the impact on educational dynamics. The fear of bypassing the teaching role or loss of control over learning methods remains.
Its effectiveness will therefore depend on the use that will be made of it, but also on the support of the teaching staff, more and more requested to integrate digital technologies into daily practices.
An educational bet, but an uncertain membership
The study mode is manually activated by the user. Nothing therefore prevents an learner from bypassing the educational intention to return to a more direct and passive use of the tool. In an academic system where performance and time constraints are strong, how many students will voluntarily accept to “think more” when AI can respond faster? This is where the future of this digital tutor can be played out. To limit this temptation, it would be necessary to make the mode study an expected and valued step in the learning path, where the effort counts as much as the answer.
It remains to be seen how teachers will perceive this new mode … and if students will have the will to commit to it permanently.
