‘Not every student has someone at home who can help when they get stuck’ — ChatGPT’s smartest new feature for teenagers is refusing to give them what they ask for

The most important aspect of the new ChatGPT for Teens feature will probably also annoy teenagers the most.

If they ask it to do their homework for them, the chatbot is supposed to recognize it, and will instead steer the student toward figuring it out themselves rather than produce a ready-to-paste essay.

That sounds like a small adjustment to the usual ChatGPT formula, but it gets at one of the biggest problems with allowing students easy access to AI chatbots.

While ChatGPT's abilities as a tutor, research assistant, and endlessly patient explainer are a potential boon to learning, letting it finish a student's homework while they scroll TikTok is something everyone should want to prevent.

ChatGPT for Teens is one way OpenAI is trying to steer away from that depressing scenario.

The experience is intended for users aged 13 to 17 and is automatically applied when someone gives an age in that range or OpenAI's systems estimate that the user is under 18.

The Responsible Homework Reminder might actually bring some positives to the idea of teens using ChatGPT, not just ways of limiting harm.

The feature supposedly recognizes when a teenager wants the AI to do their homework and redirects them toward Study Mode .

Questions instead of answers There has always been a slightly absurd tension around AI and education.

We want students to have access to technology that can explain almost anything on demand, but preferably without allowing that technology to do all the learning for them.

Giving a teenager access to ChatGPT and assuming they'll always use it ethically and to help them learn is absurd.

Even with the best intentions, the AI is usually slanted toward being overly helpful and undercutting the kind of education real research and effort provide.

OpenAI takes an engineering approach to a solution.

ChatGPT for Teens combines Study Mode and its learning-centered conversations, quizzes, and now homework reminders.