America’s future lawyers are being told to put away their phones and laptops so they can prove they can still think for themselves in an AI-saturated world.

Story Snapshot

• The University of Chicago Law School will ban phones, laptops, and tablets in all core first-year classes as part of a new strategy to fight AI-enabled cheating and protect real critical thinking.
• The law school is piloting this “analog” approach for the 2026–2027 year, tying it to a broader plan to build AI-resilient teaching, strengthen human skills, and train students to use AI ethically.
• Exams for required first-year courses will be taken in class, on paper, with no internet, electronic files, or apps, closing the door on quiet AI help during tests.
• The strategy lets students use AI later for research and revisions, but only after they first write on their own, aiming to blend old-school rigor with modern tools.

What UChicago Law Is Doing About AI and Cheating

The University of Chicago Law School has rolled out a new artificial intelligence strategy that directly targets AI-assisted cheating and digital distraction in the first year classroom. Incoming students in the core first-year courses will not be allowed to use phones, laptops, or tablets during class, with only narrow exceptions, such as a designated “scribe” who types notes for everyone or specific interactive activities that truly require technology. School leaders say this is meant to make sure students actually learn to think critically, strategically, and independently, instead of quietly leaning on AI tools.

The device ban is not a random rule; it is one part of a three-theme plan the law school laid out in its “Rethinking Legal Education in the AI Era” statement. The school says it wants teaching and testing that are resistant to AI shortcuts, more focus on human skills like judgment and communication, and serious training in responsible and ethical AI use. That bigger frame matters, because legal employers now expect young lawyers to handle AI tools, but they also need attorneys who can reason without a machine whispering suggestions in the background.

How the New “Analog” Rules Will Work in Practice

During the 2026–2027 academic year, every required first-year doctrinal class, from Civil Procedure to Contracts, will run under a coordinated no-device policy. Students will keep their phones and laptops away, and exams for these classes will be taken in person, without internet access, digital notes, or apps, which closes off many paths for AI-assisted cheating. The school’s existing rules already ban generative AI in exams unless a professor clearly allows it, but this new step goes further by physically blocking common ways students reach AI tools in the first place.

Writing and research classes will follow a layered system that starts fully analog and then slowly brings in AI under supervision. In the fall, students learn the basics of legal research and writing without any AI help. Later, they can use AI tools for tasks like finding sources, revising drafts, or preparing for oral arguments, but professors will review both the human writing and the AI-assisted work together. The school wants writing “without AI” to be the foundation, with AI added only after students show they can build arguments and analyze law on their own.

Why This Fight Over AI, Cheating, and Skills Matters Beyond One School

This device ban speaks to a wider worry almost everyone shares, whether they lean conservative or liberal: powerful technology is advancing faster than the systems meant to keep it honest. Many American parents already believe schools and universities are failing to protect real learning while chasing the latest tech trends. That feeling fits reports from teachers who say AI cheating is “off the charts,” and that many students now treat bots as silent partners in homework and exams, not as tools they still need to understand and control.

At the same time, there is tension inside higher education about how far to go in cutting off technology. Some experts warn that banning devices and chatbots can deepen gaps for students who rely on digital tools, and can make classes less accessible for those with disabilities or different learning needs. Others argue cheating is less about gadgets and more about academic culture and pressure, and that better assessment design, oral defenses, and clear rules about allowed AI use can curb cheating without stripping classrooms of modern tools. UChicago Law’s approach tries to split the difference: analog first, then supervised AI, with clear rules posted in every syllabus.

Pushback, Open Questions, and What Comes Next

Critics point out that this law school’s policy is among the strictest in the country, and even the dean says he does not know of another school with a blanket first-year laptop and phone ban. They worry this will block valid uses of technology and leave students less prepared for workplaces that already expect new lawyers to know how to use AI. Some incoming students have taken to social media to question how the rule will really be enforced if people can still keep phones in their pockets, and there are no metal detectors or AI detection scanners at classroom doors.

🚨 EDUCATION UPDATE: A new approach to fighting AI-assisted cheating: fewer devices in the classroom.

The University of Chicago Law School is limiting phone and laptop use among first-year students, sparking a wider conversation about technology, learning, and academic…

— Global News Wire (@AfolabiI24434) July 9, 2026

The law school itself admits it does not yet have public data showing how much AI cheating was happening in its classes before this move, and this ban is described as a pilot that can be changed after a year. That means many key questions remain: Will analog exams and device-free classes truly cut down cheating, or will students simply shift their AI use to homework and take-home projects done off campus? Will the added oral discussions on major papers and the new AI training modules prove students can both think on their own and safely use machines later? Parents, taxpayers, and students across the country will be watching closely, because if this experiment fails or succeeds, it will shape how other schools, and maybe other professions, decide to handle AI and the growing sense that America’s institutions are not keeping up.

Sources:

businessinsider.com, cbsnews.com, reuters.com, youtube.com, facebook.com, law.uchicago.edu, reddit.com, instagram.com