A proposal from the Czech Republic, European Union
Dear OpenAI Team,
As AI models become increasingly capable, we need to reconsider how ChatGPT should interact with students.
Today, a 16-year-old student can ask ChatGPT to create an entire PowerPoint presentation and receive a polished, ready-to-submit assignment within minutes.
But what has the student actually learned?
This concern comes from a real situation at a Czech secondary school, where a teacher referred a student to a school social pedagogue after identifying an AI-generated presentation.
The incident illustrates a broader problem: educators disagree about acceptable AI use, students lack consistent guidance, and increasingly capable AI systems make it easier to bypass the learning process.
Proposal: A Dedicated Student Mode
OpenAI should consider introducing dedicated educational accounts or profiles for students, adapted to their age and educational level.
Instead of automatically completing school assignments, ChatGPT would prioritize helping students develop their own understanding.
Key features could include:
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Age-adapted learning: Different educational approaches for primary schools, secondary schools, and universities.
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Guided assignments: Help students research, structure, and complete their own work instead of immediately generating finished submissions.
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Socratic tutoring: Encourage independent thinking through questions, explanations, and constructive feedback.
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Teacher-configurable settings: Allow schools and educators to define appropriate levels of AI assistance.
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Transparent AI assistance: Help students and teachers understand how AI contributed to an assignment.
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European educational context: Support local curricula, languages, educational standards, and privacy requirements.
An Example
Student: “Create a PowerPoint presentation about World War II.”
Instead of generating the entire presentation immediately, Student Mode could respond:
“I’ll help you create it. First, let’s decide which historical events to include. Then we’ll build an outline, find reliable sources, and work together on your slides.”
The objective is not to prevent students from using artificial intelligence.
The objective is to make AI an instrument of education rather than a replacement for learning.
Why This Matters
OpenAI is investing enormous resources in increasingly capable models, agents, and automation.
These developments are impressive.
However, educational responsibility should evolve alongside technological capability.
A more powerful AI should not automatically mean less intellectual effort from students.
OpenAI already offers educational capabilities, but a dedicated, age-aware learning experience for individual students could address this challenge more directly.
This proposal is intended as constructive feedback from the European educational environment.
I believe OpenAI has an opportunity to establish a meaningful standard for responsible AI-assisted education.
The future of educational AI should not be about completing assignments faster. It should be about helping students learn better.
Kind regards,
Otto Zelenka
Czech Republic, European Union