ChatGPT's new teen mode refuses to do your homework

OpenAI's newest ChatGPT feature is built around an unusual goal: getting teenagers to complain about it. ChatGPT for Teens, which launched Tuesday for users aged 13 to 17, includes a Responsible Homework Reminder that detects when a student is trying to get a finished essay or solved problem and redirects them toward Study Mode instead of handing over a ready-made answer.

Students benefit from a tutor available at any hour, but that same tool can just as easily finish an assignment while a student does something else entirely.

Can ChatGPT for teens actually stop homework cheating?

OpenAI's answer leans on engineering rather than restriction, combining Study Mode's guided, question-based approach with quizzes, learning visualisations, and the new homework reminders.

Teens or their parents can also set study hours, periods when study mode runs by default rather than needing to be switched on manually.

As a maths teacher in a high school in Miami, Racquel Gibson mentioned in the statement made by OpenAI that every child does not have a person at home who could assist them when they struggle and that homework tools such as the Responsible Homework Reminder can guide the students step by step.

This way, ChatGPT for teens can be seen as the solution between banning AI from the educational process and letting children use AI any way they want to. The tool is based on Socratic questions and scaffolding created by OpenAI along with educators and scientists.

Once a user gives their age as anywhere from 13 to 17 years old, or once OpenAI’s systems identify them to be below 18 years old using factors such as age of account, usage behaviour, topics spoken about, and time of day, then the feature activates.