I bombed algebra in high school. ChatGPT’s new Study Mode is my redemption arc

Welcome to Eye on AI. AI reporter Sharon Goldman here for the Thursday newsletter! In this edition...back-to-school with ChatGPT’s new Study Mode…Microsoft signs on to EU’s AI Code of Practice, but Meta has declined…OpenAI launches Stargate Norway, its first AI data center initiative in Europe…AI researchers are approaching the job market like NBA stars.

This week, I got a sneak peek at ChatGPT’s new Study Mode during an OpenAI press demo on Zoom, ahead of its Tuesday release. 

Toggling the tool button in the “Ask Anything” chat to “Study and Learn” transforms ChatGPT from a straightforward Q&A assistant into a personalized tutor. Instead of simply spitting out answers, it uses Socratic questioning, hints, and step-by-step guidance to encourage active learning. Tell it what you want to study, and it will assess your skill level and even remember your progress across chats.

As I watched the demo, my eyes widened and my breath quickened. Study Mode may have been designed with college students in mind—powered by system instructions crafted with input from teachers, scientists, and learning experts. But while it’s been several decades since my own academic experience, I instantly knew that I wanted to use Study Mode. And I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for: high school algebra. 

My math failure shaped my life

Along with the rest of the math curriculum in those years, I completely bombed in algebra—and I can’t overstate how much that failure shaped my life. I carried a deep sense of shame about how hard math was for me, even with tutors. It stood in stark contrast to how easily I excelled in subjects like English and social studies, and it felt like no one really understood how curious I actually was about math. There were so many questions that were never answered. What is algebra, anyway? Why do we learn it in the first place? Why does it come before geometry and trigonometry? What’s the point of all these rules about x and y?

It might seem ironic, given that I now write about AI and regularly interview researchers with PhDs in mathematics who casually reference linear algebra in conversation. But I’ve always wished I could get a do-over on high school math.

Yes, there are real concerns about how AI will affect student learning—from cheating and over-reliance to privacy and bias. New reporting this week from Rest of World found that when students in rural Colombia gained access to AI, students started failing exams.

But for me, ChatGPT’s new Study Mode is already becoming something deeply personal: a long-overdue redemption arc.

Study Mode at my own pace

I started where I never really could before, and Study Mode immediately had a refreshing response:

“Let’s treat this like the first day of Algebra 1—only better. This time, you get to ask questions whenever you want, and we move at your pace.” 

I was on board with that: What is algebra, I asked.

Algebra is the part of math where we stop just working with numbers and start working with relationships between numbers.

Instead of asking:
What’s 3 × 5?
We ask:
What number x would make this equation true?

It’s like math with mystery—something is hidden, and our job is to solve for it.

“Math with mystery”—ooh, I loved that. After giving me the lowdown on the “big ideas” in algebra–everything from solving equations to graphing lines and word problems, Study Mode offered a few options: 

Want to:
A) Ask questions about any of this?
B) Choose a puzzle type to start with?
C) Keep going with the intro and build slowly from here?
Your call!

I said I’d like to solve equations. Study Mode dove right in:

???? Solving Equations: What’s the Goal?

An equation is like a balance scale—whatever you do to one side, you have to do to the other.

Here’s your first equation:
3x + 4 = 19

???? What do you think we should do first to start solving for x?
(Just take a guess—we’ll figure it out together.)

The promise of AI-powered personalized learning

I sat back and smiled. Apparently, it’s never too late to solve for x—even for a journalist who always thought she was good with words but terrible with numbers. I spent a couple of hours progressing through one-step and two-step equations; equations with variables on both sides; equations with parentheses; and equations combining like terms. I asked lots of questions along the way and occasionally peppered my responses with “Wow!” and “I never knew that!”

Like every AI use case, there are tradeoffs. The risks of over-reliance on AI and diminished critical thinking are real. But I find myself leaning toward the view of my colleague Jeremy Kahn, who, in his recent book Mastering AI: A Survival Guide to Our Superpowered Future, highlights the promise of AI-powered personalized learning. He frames the idea of AI as a one-on-one tutor as one of its most powerful educational opportunities.

My late-in-life return to algebra may not have been OpenAI’s target use case. But who knows—maybe I’ll make it to calculus.

With that, here’s the rest of the AI news.

Sharon Goldman
sharon.goldman@fortune.com
@sharongoldman

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com