OpenAI on Tuesday announced a new product within ChatGPT called “study mode,” which aims to help students work through problems step-by-step before they arrive at an answer. 

As artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT have rocketed into the mainstream, educators quickly discovered that students can use the tools to cheat and avoid engaging in critical thinking. OpenAI said it built study mode as “a first step in a longer journey to improve learning in ChatGPT.”

“When ChatGPT is prompted to teach or tutor, it can significantly improve academic performance,” Leah Belsky, vice president of education at OpenAI, said during a briefing. “But when it’s just used as an answer machine, it can hinder learning.”

One in 3 college-age people are already using ChatGPT, according to OpenAI, so the company designed study mode with this demographic in mind. Students who use the product will be met with guiding questions instead of direct answers while they work through homework problems, test prep and new subject material, the company said. 

OpenAI released a prerecorded demo that showed how a student could use study mode for help with a homework problem. After the student submits the question, ChatGPT has them work through two different steps and submit a summary of the answer in their own words. 

OpenAI said it built study mode in collaboration with teachers, scientists, education experts and students who participate in its ChatGPT Lab, which is where cohorts of college students share how they are using OpenAI’s tools. 

The company’s study mode announcement comes just days after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggested that AI could dramatically change the future of education. Altman, who dropped out of Stanford University, said his young child will “probably not” go to college. 

“I already think college is maybe not working great for most people,” Altman said during an interview on the podcast, “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von.” “I think, fast forward 18 years, it’s going to look like a very, very different thing.”

Even so, OpenAI has still been working closely with academic institutions. The company released ChatGPT Edu last year, which is a version of the chatbot that’s built specifically for universities. 

OpenAI said study mode is coming to ChatGPT Edu in the next few weeks, but it’s available to Free, Plus, Pro and Team users starting on Tuesday.