New policy The University of Chicago has introduced a policy banning its incoming law students from using laptops and smartphones during lectures in a bid to limit AI dependency.
The new policy will come into effect at the beginning of this upcoming academic year and will apply to first year (or 1L) law students only.
The new strategy forms part of the law school’s goal of developing “AI-resilient pedagogy and assessments” and “elevating the ‘essential human’ skills that distinguish excellent lawyers”.
The use of AI is still incorporated into other parts of the curriculum but in a ” strategy statement” released last week, the law school wrote:
We need to ensure that our students actually learn to think critically, strategically, and independently without relying on AI; but we also must face the reality that AI tools are already widely available to our students, and our graduates will be expected to be prepared to use them in legal practice.
This news comes amidst fears and controversies about AI in the legal industry on both sides of the Atlantic, with Pinsent Masons‘ insolvency proceedings blunder and Sullivan & Cromwell‘s hallucinations in court being the latest in a growing line of AI-based mishaps.