Learning never stops: How AI makes learning continuous

As students head back to school, OpenAI is releasing a new report on how students and educators are already using ChatGPT to extend learning beyond the classroom.

Students have long had to wait until class to ask a question or get help. Teachers divide their attention among dozens of students while also managing administrative work. Parents and tutors are not always available at the moment a question arises. Now, AI is changing all of that by making guidance, feedback, and practice available whenever students need them.

A privacy-preserving analysis found that people across all age groups have as many as 70 million conversations with ChatGPT each week devoted to testing what they know, which include misconception checks and requests for more practice. In the U.S., prompts related to classwork and homework peak at more than 460 million messages per week during the school year and climb on Sunday evenings. Even during the summer, they remain above 180 million messages per week.

For students, continuous learning can mean getting help with algebra outside of the classroom while the lesson is still fresh. For teachers, it can mean adapting an assignment for different skill levels before the first bell or spending less time on recurring paperwork and more time teaching. For families who speak a different language at home, it can mean receiving school communications in a language they understand and being better able to support a child’s progress.

The report also spotlights individual teachers and students across the U.S. who are using AI in productive, creative, and meaningful ways.

AI cannot replace a teacher’s judgment, a parent’s encouragement, or the work students must do to learn. But with appropriate guidance and safeguards, it can give educators more time to focus on teaching and make individualized support available to more people at more times.