(Photo of lesbian cats unrelated) Lilith and Gargoyle having a midday loaf-off
The University of Chicago's Law School published a memo last month about their new policy for first year law students - the memo is titled: Rethinking Legal Education in the AI Era and I recommend reading it.
The main takeaway is that phones and computers will not be allowed for use in classes - and while that can seem fucking bonkers (accessibility notions aside for people who need laptops in lieu of physical notetaking) in a time where AI feels like it has a chokehold on the world, the purpose of the pushback is to promote critical thinking in students so their go-to isn't an AI or search engine...and I think that's kind of beautiful?
The framing here is what's interesting:
AI may transform the legal profession, but many aspects of legal practice are likely to remain the domain of humans, not merely because humans are good at them, but because clients, employers, judges, and society will want humans to perform them. Among others, these aspects of legal practice are likely to include oral advocacy, strategic judgment, critical thinking, and developing and maintaining relationships with clients and stakeholders. To be sure, there are ways in which AI can assist humans with these tasks.
But legal education should renew its focus on training students for the aspects of legal practice for which humans are likely to remain essential.
Emphasis mine, but I love how pro-AI advocates have a harder time discounting this move because it's not combatting their "AI is inevitable, you'll be left behind" nonsense; it's saying that even if / when AI becomes ubiquitous, an attorney who actually knows their shit will always be preferred by a client wanting representation. A human needs to know and understand things and not fall into the cognitive decline trap of the chatbot.
I've seen this a far amount with both visual art and music; generated "content" is fucking everywhere but for the most part, audiences want a person on the other end; a person with intent, with emotion, not just a bunch of creatively-devoid prompts. And like sure we're guaranteed to have radio waves flooded with the generative nonsense as this technology continues unchecked but the real shit will always shine through to people who care.
I'm glad more opposition to "eh just ask Claude" exists and it's not in the usual circles you'd expect it.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Here's your end-of-post cat photo! Her name is Lilith and she's very suspicious of humans.