University of Chicago Bans Devices to ‘AI-Proof’ Students

University of Chicago Law School has recently banned use of devices in classrooms from the first year. The decision has been made in the light of high usage of artificial intelligence in classrooms and in order to prevent cheating during exams, administration and officials have taken this measure. The law school has completely stopped usage of laptops, mobile phones and tech devices in class. They have urged students to use pen and papers top take notes.

The University said that there has been a widespread overuse of AI which has impacted their critical thinking. The law school stated, “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.”

The question is, if AI is weakening critical thinking skills, should universities ban it completely?

Walk into a class and one can find debates which are beyond textbooks. Technology has been evolving over time, and AI is just another technological advancement. AI can complete essays, do research, solve questions, generate code and also think critically within a few seconds. But, the question arising is, if the students completely rely on AI for everything, will the brain stop doing what education is meant to teach; think, analyse, question.

The concern is frightening. Students who completely rely on AI for completing assignments and researching without understanding concepts, are likely to weaken their critical and analytical thinking. Degrees may loose value when the assessments will be written by AI chatbots and genuine knowledge will be measured. This questions academic integrity.

So, are universities like University of Chicago, right to ban AI usage? Maybe. But the answer can be more complex. The real challenge is not using AI but complete intellectual dependence on it.

The jobs that these students would land in will probably be expecting them to know how to use AI tools responsibly or rather they should know how to leverage these tools. But, someone who has never learned to work alongside AI will be disadvantaged as someone who has.

Technology has always raised questions. Calculators made calculations easier, search engines have reduced memorisation and now AI is risking critical thinking. With technological advancements, education has advanced too and evolved around it. 
So, those who know how to leverage artificial intelligence and not completely depend on it will thrive in the future.

Universities should have a different question, i.e., can the student critically analyse the answer that AI gave? Perhaps, universities and students should know how to use AI to the best use to support their research and critical thinking and not completely ban AI usage. Students should be able to think before they even give a prompt to an AI tool.