Can ChatGPT Make Students Smarter?

Summary

WSJ Tech News Briefing

Episode: Can ChatGPT Make Students Smarter?

Date: June 9, 2026
Host: Imani Moiz
Guest: Sam Schechner, WSJ Reporter
Special Focus: Estonia’s National ChatGPT Experiment in Schools

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into Estonia’s bold initiative to equip nearly 20,000 high school students with customized ChatGPT accounts as part of a nationwide experiment, investigating the real impact of AI on learning. As many schools worldwide attempt to ban or limit AI chatbots, Estonia aims to understand if AI can foster deeper reasoning—and what role teachers and students play in the outcome.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Estonia’s Approach: Embracing AI in Education (06:04)

• Context: While many countries restrict AI in classrooms, Estonia—a digitally advanced Baltic nation—has taken a proactive approach, providing free ChatGPT accounts to all 10th and 11th graders.
• Purpose: The experiment examines whether AI tools like ChatGPT improve student reasoning and confidence, or become a shortcut that undermines true learning.

Customizing ChatGPT for Learning

• Socratic Model: Estonia’s version is tailored for education, refusing to provide direct answers or do students’ work. Instead, it poses guiding questions to stimulate critical thinking.
  • Sam Schechner [07:19]:

  “The Socratic model is going to ask questions ... that will encourage you to explore your own thinking about a task. The goal is to encourage students to think about their own thinking, which is something that researchers say is associated with learning.”

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2. Why Embrace Rather Than Ban? (07:51)

• Strategic Reasoning:
  • The Estonian Ministry of Education recognized that ignoring AI would be worse than engaging with it—students would use these tools regardless. The central concern was losing opportunities for cognitive growth, not just cheating.
  • Sam Schechner [07:55]:

  “We knew that not doing anything is the worst option. Kids were going to use chatbots ... their concern was not so much ... that’s cheating ... but that they wouldn’t do the hard work of using their brains.”

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3. Classroom Reactions: Students and Teachers (08:29)

Teachers’ Perspective

• Teachers hope students recognize ChatGPT as a tool for learning, not a shortcut.
  • Estonian Teacher [08:29]:

  “I think they have the mental capacity like the previous generations. It’s just, do they choose to use it or do they let the laziness take over them? ... it’s a tool to learn ... but it’s not the tool that will do everything for them.”

Students’ Diverse Responses (09:00)

• Some students fear relying on AI will weaken their own abilities and avoid using the chatbot.
  • One student admitted, “she’s afraid that her brain will get lazy if she uses AI and she tries to avoid it.”
• Others find the Socratic chatbot “annoying” due to its persistent questioning and refusal to simply provide answers.
• A notable minority abstain from using AI for personal or ethical reasons—including concerns about energy use and the politics of AI creators.

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4. What are Researchers Tracking? (09:50)

• Scope of Study:

  • Pre- and post-experiment tests aim to measure not just academic performance but also attitudes toward learning and cognitive skills.
  • Researchers (with OpenAI’s help) are also trying to determine if AI can spot signs of genuine learning within student chat logs—a step toward optimizing AI’s educational value.
  • Sam Schechner [09:54]:

    “They did a battery of tests before the rollout ... hoping to see what impact the tool has on both the skills of the kids ... and also their attitudes toward learning.”

• Business Angle:

  • There’s commercial interest too: Engaging students with AI at an early age could create future lifelong users.

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5. Can AI Make Students Smarter? (10:52)

• Complex Impact:

  • AI can boost immediate academic performance but risks becoming a crutch if overused.
  • The key is balance—students must sometimes struggle to develop their own skills.
  • Teachers’ roles may become even more important, shaping student motivation and integrating AI effectively.
  • Sam Schechner [10:58]:

    “AI definitely boosts performance ... but ... are you smarter? ... There can be a crutch effect ... You have to sacrifice some performance in order to ... build your own mental muscles. ... teachers maybe play an even more important role.”

• Equity Risks:

  • There’s concern that AI might only benefit already-motivated students, potentially widening achievement gaps.
  • Much depends on classroom “social dynamics” and how individual teachers and students engage with the tool.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Sam Schechner on Socratic AI [07:19]:

  "The goal is to encourage students to think about their own thinking, which researchers say is associated with learning."

• Estonian Teacher Perspective [08:29]:

  "It's a tool to learn and to gain knowledge, but it's not the tool that will do everything for them."

• Sam Schechner on Risks [10:58]:

  "There can be a crutch effect if you really want to maximize performance and use AI all the time, then your innate skills won’t be as good."

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Important Timestamps

• 06:04: Estonia’s national AI education experiment overview
• 07:19: Socratic ChatGPT model explained
• 07:55: Why Estonia embraced, rather than banned, AI
• 08:29: Teacher perspective on student cognition
• 09:00: Student reactions; conscientious objectors
• 09:50: What researchers are tracking in the experiment
• 10:58: Will AI make students smarter or dependent?

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Episode Tone and Style

Clear-eyed, curious, and balanced—with a focus on evidence and nuance. The conversation highlights both the promise and pitfalls of AI in the classroom, relaying perspectives from educators, technologists, and students in a direct, journalistic manner.

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Summary Takeaway

Estonia’s experiment signals a major shift in educational thinking: rather than fearing AI, design and study it deliberately to shape positive outcomes. Success will depend less on the technology itself and more on how teachers, students, and educational systems adapt—offering early lessons for schools worldwide.

Transcript

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[Imani Moiz]

Welcome to Tech News briefing. It's Tuesday, June 9th. I'm Imani Moiz for the Wall Street Journal. As electricity prices rise, some people are turning to DIY solutions to keep their energy bills in check. We're breaking down the trend that's starting to catch on in the US Then, as schools around the world grapple with the impact of AI on learning, one country is giving nearly 20,000 high schoolers their own ChatGPT accounts. We'll explain this national experiment and what it could mean for the future of education. But first, more Americans are figuring out that you can use solar panels to pump electricity into your home without hiring a professional. It's called plug in solar, or sometimes balcony solar, because that's where many people end up putting the panels. Until recently, these systems existed in a legal gray area in the US but states are starting to warm up to the idea of Utah and Maryland have legalized plug in solar, while several other states, including New York and Virginia, have passed laws clearing the way for the technology. And it's already taken off in parts of Europe where more than a million systems have been installed in Germany alone. And it recently had one new convert in Maryland, our own Wall Street Journal columnist, Christopher Mimms. He recently climbed onto his roof to give the technology a try and is here now to tell us all about it. How do these solar panels work and how do they compare to the pricier ones that you can have professionally installed?

[Christopher Mims]

So these solar panels are identical to the pricier ones you can get professionally installed. The difference is you install it yourself. And this technology comes with, I call it a magic box called a microinverter, which both converts the electricity that the solar panels generate so your home can use it, and which converts the power that they produce into AC current that can just be pushed directly back into your home's electrical system through any standard outlet.

[Imani Moiz]

Did you feel the need to bone up on safety protocols or Electricity 101 before you installed this thing yourself?

[Christopher Mims]

No, I just, I totally YOLO'd it. I got on my roof of my porch in flip flops. That's how lackadaisical I was about this whole process. Brought the fold up solar panel with me, unfolded it, realized I had it wrong, had to turn it around 180 degrees. Didn't really think in advance about where the wires were going to go. Dangled those off the porch and then just plugged them into this microinverter and plugged that into the wall, installed an app and it just started working.

[Imani Moiz]

And you're still here to tell the tale?

[Christopher Mims]

I'm still here to tell the tale. In retrospect, the most foolish thing I did was to get on my roof. And flip flops, that was definitely the most haz are just part of the whole installation.

[Imani Moiz]

Can you walk us through the math? Is this thing saving you money?

[Christopher Mims]

So the math on this depends on two things. One is your latitude and the exposure of the surface that you're putting the solar panels on. And then two, the thing honestly that it depends the most on is the cost of electricity where you are, because for every kilowatt hour you produce with the system, that displaces however many cents you would have otherwise paid to the utility company. For me, it's difficult to say without a year long trial exactly how much these panels that I put on this part of my roof are going to produce, but my guess is maybe $500 a year for the exact system that I was playing around with. So that's a pretty good payback. But your mileage very much may vary. And for a lot of folks to get the most out of a system like this, they're going to need to connect their panels to some kind of backup battery which will allow them to gather power during the day and then use it in the early evening, which is when home power use tends to spike.

[Imani Moiz]

Where do you think that these systems are heading?

[Christopher Mims]

I think potentially individual US states, New York, California could end up being a gigantic market for these because these are places where people are already just paying eye watering amounts for power. You know, when people are faced with that amount of pain month after month from their utility company, there's a really powerful incentive to essentially prepay their utility bills for the next few years and kind of take things in their own hands. And so you could end up with, you know, a billion dollar market for these in some of the biggest potential states for this, like New York and California, and of course many tens of thousands of these systems in many other states. Nine states have legalized them so far and another 20 are working on legislation to make them fully sanctioned.

[Imani Moiz]

That was WSJ columnist Christopher Mims. Are you trying to keep your energy bill under control? Would you install your own solar setup in flip flops? If you're a listener on Spotify, let us know what you think in the comments. Coming up, one country has turned its school system into a national experiment by giving thousands of 10th and 11th graders free access to ChatGPT. How's it working out so far? Far? That's after the break.

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[Imani Moiz]

As schools around the world grapple with the rise of AI, many have tried to limit or ban chatbots in the classroom. But Estonia, a small Baltic nation with a population of about 1.3 million, is taking a different approach. Earlier this year, Estonia began providing free ChatGPT accounts to roughly 20,000 10th and 11th graders as part of an ambitious effort to understand how AI affects learning. Researchers are tracking everything from students reasoning skills to their confidence, hoping to answer a question educators everywhere are asking. Can AI help students learn, or will it simply become a crutch? At the center of this experiment is a customized version of ChatGPT, a Socratic version of the chatbot that is designed with learning in mind. It refuses to complete students, work for them, and and instead responds with its own questions. Wall Street Journal reporter Sam Schechner recently traveled to Estonia to see this firsthand and joins me now to explain how this educational experiment is going. And before we get started, we should just say, News Corp, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, has a content licensing partnership with OpenAI. Can you give us some examples of how this socratic version of ChatGPT is different from the ones that most consumers are familiar with?

[Sam Schechner]

The traditional consumer version of ChatGPT is told to be an assistant. So if you ask it to do something, it's super agreeable and it says great idea and I'll do it for you. The Socratic model is going to ask questions about what the task is at hand and help kind of ask questions that will encourage you to explore your own thinking about a task. And the goal is to sort of encourage students to think about their own thinking, which is something that researchers say is associated with learning.

[Imani Moiz]

So why did school officials conclude that embracing the technology was better than fighting it?

[Sam Schechner]

I spoke with the Minister of Education in Estonia and put that question to her, and she told me that we knew that not doing anything is the worst option. Kids were going to use chatbots to do their schoolwork for them, and their concern was not so much, oh well, that's cheating or that's unethical, although that is potentially a concern, but that they wouldn't do the hard work of using their brains to accomplish these assignments.

[Imani Moiz]

And we have a Clip of one teacher you spoke with in Estonia talking about how he thought it might affect the new generation.

[Estonian Teacher]

I think they have the mental capacity like the previous generations. It's just, do they choose to use it or do they let the laziness take over them? I really hope we manage to show them that it's a tool to learn and to gain knowledge, but it's not the tool that will do everything for them.

[Imani Moiz]

Can you tell us a little bit more about the student reaction so far?

[Sam Schechner]

Yeah, there's some students who have really kind of taken on the vibe shift that they're hearing from their teachers. One student told me that she's afraid that her brain will get lazy if she uses AI and she tries to avoid it. Other students simply find the Socratic chatbot annoying. It asks a lot of questions. I don't know, you know, the last time you spent talking to teenagers, but they don't like being asked too many questions. And, you know, when you want something done, it can be pretty annoying. There are also a significant minority of students in Estonia who simply won't use the chatbot for potentially moral reasons. They are concerned about energy consumption or they're concerned about the politics of different chatbot makers. And in one of the classes I visited, there were three students who were these conscientious objectors.

[Imani Moiz]

What are researchers hoping to learn from this experiment and what have they learned so far?

[Sam Schechner]

They, you know, did a battery of tests before the rollout and they are going to do more at the end of the school year. And they're hoping to see what impact the tool has on both the skills of the kids in these two classes and also their attitudes toward learning. Another thing that the researchers are looking at along with OpenAI is whether they can train an AI to actually identify whether learning is occurring from the chat logs. Those kinds of markers of learning could prove useful in refining chatbots for the educational context. But in coming years, this could be a significant revenue stream for the companies and also a pipeline of new users. It's long been a marketing strategy to try to get teen users that become young adult users that become, you know, mature, high spending users later in life. In terms of the results, they hope to have some early results later this year.

[Imani Moiz]

After spending some time in these classrooms, do you come away believing that AI will make students smarter or just more efficient?

[Sam Schechner]

AI definitely boosts performance, right? The question is, what happens when you're not using AI and are you smarter? There's definitely research that there can be a crutch effect if you really want to maximize performance and you use AI all the time, then your innate skills won't be as good. You have to sacrifice some performance in order to do something difficult and build your own mental muscles. The devil is in the details here. It's not necessarily about the tool or the instructions to the chatbot, but what happens with each individual student and with teachers in general. The teachers maybe play an even more important role. Sort of paradoxically, you have these AI tutors, but in the end, it's the social dynamic in the classroom between the teacher and the student, between the students themselves, that leads to academic motivation. According to a lot of the educators I spoke to, a lot is at stake in the coming months and years figuring out if these tools can be made to help benefit students and improve learning, or if it's going to perhaps only help those students who are motivated and further widen gaps of achievement.

[Imani Moiz]

That was WSJ reporter Sam Schechner. And that's it for Tech News Briefing. If you're a listener on Spotify, be sure to leave us a comment. Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansi with supervising producer Katie Ferguson. I'm Imani Moiz for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back later this morning with TNB Tech Minute. Thanks for listening.

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