The school year starts soon for many students, and ChatGPT has announced a new "study mode" that aims to prevent--or at least, encourage against--students taking homework shortcuts. The mode is designed around the Socratic method, so when activated, OpenAI's generative AI chatbot rejects direct requests for answers, instead guiding the user with open-ended questions. The new study mode is available to most logged-in users of ChatGPT, including those on the free version. OpenAI has significantly disrupted the education system over the past few years, with students becoming some of the earliest adopters of ChatGPT. Even so, OpenAI claims the bot is currently an overall boon to learners--if asked to roleplay as a synthetic tutor.

Now more than ever, our teachers need help. Faced with an unprecedented crisis of having to move all instruction online in a matter of weeks, everyone is figuring out the new playbook for teaching in the 21st century. Here is artificial intelligence, and education -- AI won't fix education, but it can help. One of the topics discussed, alongside video chats, online quizzes, and remote attendance is artificial intelligence. Indeed, it's time to take a closer look at how AI can be helpful to our instructors today.