Law Schools Outlaw AI Amid Fears of Stunted Academic Growth
Law schools in the United States have begun banning artificial intelligence in the classroom, according to a Financial Times column Monday (Sept. 7) by Patti Waldmeir. The University of Chicago Law School is among the institutions imposing these restrictions. For the new academic year, phones, tablets and laptops will be forbidden in core first-year classrooms, […] The post Law Schools Outlaw AI…
The University of Chicago Law School and The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law have implemented policies prohibiting the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom for the upcoming academic year, according to a Financial Times column. The rationale behind these restrictions is to ensure that students learn the traditional Socratic method of debating cases and legal principles, which is harder to achieve with AI tools.
William Hubbard, chair of the AI committee at the University of Chicago Law School, emphasized that the "hard way" of learning is crucial. Adam Chilton, dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, noted that while students will likely use AI, the institution wants to adapt its curriculum to reflect this reality.
The policy at Berkeley explicitly forbids the use of generative AI for any work submitted for credit, stating that professors should not teach students how to do work if AI is doing the thinking and writing. The legal profession has increasingly integrated AI, with funding to legal technology startups reaching over $2.4 billion in the first nine months of 2025.
However, concerns about the impact of AI on academic growth have led these law schools to take a cautious approach.
Written by urgent.news from PYMNTS's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
