Social sciences (sosc) Core classes will generally prohibit the use of technology in class and ban the use of artificial intelligence tools by students and instructors beginning this fall, according to a Social Sciences Collegiate Division (SSCD) memo obtained by the Maroon.
The guidance, issued by SSCD Master Jenny Trinitapoli in consultation with sequence chairs and instructors, reflects a “strong consensus… that our sequences are best understood as a pedagogical setting without AI,” the memo reads. “Although practices have varied course-by-course in recent years, in AY 2027 sequences are collectively designed to be taught as ‘analog’ courses.”
Under the new guidelines, students will primarily read texts on paper and engage with them via device-free guided discussions, in contrast to previous years, when technology policies were left to the discretion of instructors, with many permitting the use of laptops and digital texts in class.
“[I]n the SOSC Core we first equip students to read, write, and think without dependence on AI, just as we equip students to read, write, and think beyond the bounds of conventional views or leading ideologies,” the memo reads.
The memo also states that “AI-assisted grading has no place in the SOSC Core unless faculty are carefully assessing its validity against human grading,” and that all sosc syllabi will be produced by human scholars.
While the policy recommends a total ban on AI use in sosc classes, it allows for “thoughtful experimentation” by professors who want to incorporate AI into their classes, in consultation with divisional leadership. Instructors may also “carve out exceptions to the device-free norm for specific purposes,” such as “to collectively examine tabulations in a dataset, to troubleshoot code, to revise a page of text, or to access library website [sic] for guidance about citation practices and learn shortcuts.” Students with certain accommodations through Student Disability Services will also be permitted to use devices in class.
In response to questions from the Maroon, Katelyn Yoshimoto, a spokesperson for the College, provided additional context on the reasoning behind the new sosc guidelines and cited the University’s broader strategy related to AI and academic life.
The 2026-27 SOSC Core sequences are designed to engage students primarily through paper texts and guided conversations, unmediated by devices. The guidance, developed by the SOSC Core chairs, recommends device-free classrooms for these small group, discussion-based classes. It is intended to reduce classroom distractions and encourage face-to-face discussions among students and instructors, an important element of SOSC Core classes. The guidance also notes that individual faculty members may make exceptions to the device-free norm for specific purposes, including for students with approved accommodations through Student Disability Services.
Across campus, members of the UChicago community are building a human-centered vision for AI that balances its potential as a tool for research, pedagogy, and productivity with recognition of its limitations. This approach is ‘at once skeptical, ethical, and ambitious,’ as described by a 2025 report by UChicago faculty. President Paul Alivisatos articulated this vision in his
[at a campus conference on AI research and a]February remarks[calling on students to think ‘with, without, and about’ machines.]recent message
An individual familiar with the policy changes told the Maroon that civilization studies sequence instructors were asked for their perspective on adopting similar guidelines, but that no explicit AI or technology restrictions are being implemented at this time. Yoshimoto told the Maroon that course chairs for the humanities Core are “currently having discussions regarding the 2026-27 academic year.”
The memo cites as influential a 2025 report on AI and education by the University’s Artificial Intelligence and Education Working Group, which, according to the memo, “emphasizes the centrality of human engagement, human interaction, and human expertise to UChicago’s educational mission.”
Other committees addressing the University’s relationship with artificial intelligence were announced earlier this summer alongside the unveiling of a partnership between Anthropic and UChicago. Beginning in September, students will receive free access to the Claude Enterprise suite of large language models; faculty and staff were given early access to the tools in July.
In response to a question about how sosc’s AI guidance would intersect with the University’s Claude rollout, Yoshimoto wrote that “[u]sing generative AI well requires judgment and discernment: different contexts have different expectations, and access to Claude or any AI does not mean that every use is appropriate or permitted. In the classroom, College students should follow the expectations around AI established by each instructor and course.”
SSCD is not the only division of the University to go AI-free in its introductory sequences. In July, the University of Chicago Law School announced a similar prohibition on electronic devices in the classroom and that it would require in-person exams for most 1L courses beginning next academic year.
“[T]hese guidelines afford students the freedom to think for themselves, to listen to one another without the cacophony of other (disembodied and non-human) voices in the room, to make mistakes, and to change their minds as they engage with thinkers of the past, with us, and with their fellow students in good faith, face-to-face,” the SSCD memo reads.
Editor’s note, August 24, 2026, 11:20 a.m.: This article has been updated to reflect comment from the University and from the College and to clarify that students with certain accommodations will be permitted to use devices in class.