TaxProf Blog has covered the University of Chicago Law School’s well-designed laptop ban that took effect for fall 2026. There’s a follow-up: the faculty chair of the university’s AI and Academic Life Committee has released more on the institution’s empirically informed pedagogical rationale—especially in light of the university’s June 2026 partnership with Anthropic that brought Claude to all faculty, staff, and students.
Three pillars in the law school’s approach: “AI is a powerful tool that lets you take shortcuts”; teaching and learning “with AI, without AI, and about AI”; and the guiding principle that AI “should help students devote more effort and attention, not less, to their work.” Although this final item appears in a paragraph about how AI use in education “is the opposite of how it should be used in the typical professional context,” the same goal—deep engagement with AI work product, rather than mere acceptance—applies to both contexts (and other empirical work supports this intuition).
Links and excerpts, below the fold.
William H.J. Hubbard, We Gave Our Students the Latest AI Tools—and Then Banned AI and Laptops in Our First-Year Classrooms. Why? (Oct. 12, 2026):
[I]n an educational setting, AI’s superpower is educational kryptonite. . . .
What does this mean for university education, and law school education in particular? The answer is simple: no shortcuts. Foundational abilities, like reading critically, forming arguments, and expressing yourself through writing, must be developed in an environment where AI is not used to take shortcuts. Sometimes, it is best to teach without AI. . . .
Now, let’s be clear: Does this mean universities should run away from AI? No. It means that universities can teach with AI when AI enhances students’ interest, engagement, and sense of challenge in confronting material. . . .
[I]t’s no contradiction that our Law School is going without AI in some contexts, like first-year classrooms, even as we give our students powerful tools to think critically and ambitiously with AI and about AI.
Related TaxProf Blog coverage:
- Washington & Lee Requires AI Training Before 1L Classes Begin (Oct. 10, 2026)
- Writing Is Learning . . . Still and Despite AI (Oct. 1, 2026)
- Law Schools Tell Students to Put AI Away (Sept. 9, 2026)
- Toronto Law’s Laptop-Free Classrooms Have an AI Twist—And Some Students Push Back (Aug. 22, 2026)
- Chicago Law Bans Laptops in 1L Classes to Address AI (July 11, 2026)
- Salinas et al.: Law Professors Prefer AI over Peer Answers (June 6, 2026)
- Vibe Coding for Lawyers and Law Students (Apr. 25, 2026)
- Bloomberg: Bridging the Gap: The New Realities of Law School and Legal Practice (Feb. 14, 2026)
- Top Law Schools Boost AI Training as Legal Citation Errors Grow (Aug. 20, 2025)
- Chicago Law School Launches New Course: AI Lab (Aug. 1, 2025)
