University of Chicago law school bans devices to reduce AI reliance

A major university is targeting technology with a blanket ban on electronic devices to “ensure that students truly learn to think critically, strategically and independently without relying on artificial intelligence,” according to administrators.

The University of Chicago has banned first-year law students from using phones, tablets and laptops in class. A statement was published It was said by school administrators on Thursday.

The ban goes into effect this fall, and university officials say the rule will combat the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom.

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“As artificial intelligence disrupts higher education, our commitment to rigorous legal education must also mean openness to even rapid adaptation,” the statement said. “Our willingness to rethink our practices is consistent with our law school’s long history of innovation.”

According to the statement, administrators have worked over the past year to determine the best way to embrace AI within their curricula and campus policies and have received feedback from the community, students, faculty, law firm leaders and legal technology executives.

“The feedback we received throughout this process was consistent,” they added. “We must ensure that our students truly learn to think critically, strategically and independently without relying on AI, but we must also face the fact that AI tools are already widely available to our students, and our graduates will be expected to be prepared to use them in their legal practice.”

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“As artificial intelligence disrupts higher education, our commitment to rigorous legal education must also mean openness to even rapid adaptation,” according to a statement from the school. (iStock)

The school chose to launch a “strategic vision” encompassing three themes in which students and faculty would “develop AI-proof pedagogy and assessment,” develop the “core human” skills that distinguish excellent lawyers, and teach “the responsible, effective, and ethical use of AI.”

Under the newly announced strategy, first-year law students will be banned from using electronic devices in class, and professors will instead assign “class clerks” to take notes for the group.

Professors are also given the authority to determine when electronic devices can be used “for certain technology-enabled activities,” such as “in-class voting.”

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Professors were given the authority to decide when electronic devices could be used for “specific technology-enabled activities.” (iStock)

School administrators also determined that students would need to conduct legal research and write assignments while using AI as a tool, but they would not be able to use the technology to write materials for themselves.

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Any use of AI to complete assignments will be reviewed by faculty, and the school will also offer upper-level electives specializing in the adoption of AI in law and the adaptation of AI tools to work in the legal field.

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“It is absolutely unrealistic to think that students and lawyers will not use artificial intelligence,” he said in the statement. “But legal technology is changing rapidly, and there is no guarantee that specific AI tools or techniques on the rise today will be useful when current students enter practice. Therefore, training in AI skills requires more than producing students who can use tools that are already part of the practice of law.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the University of Chicago for comment.