Top Law School Declares War On Student Use Of Artificial Intelligence
The University of California, Berkeley School of Law has instituted a policy effective summer 2026 prohibiting students from using artificial intelligence (AI) to draft and edit coursework and assist them in completing exams, according to a post shared on X.
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Richard Albert, professor of World Constitutions at the University of Texas at Austin, shared screenshots on X of UC Berkeley Law School’s apparent AI policy, which has been viewed over 50,000 times as of publication. While the states students may use AI for research purposes on papers to identify sources, such as cases or statutes, they are prohibited from using AI to brainstorm topics for papers, generate exam outlines, or translate a paper into English, according to the same post.
Other prohibitions include “asking an AI tool to compose a paragraph summarizing a legal rule for use in a paper (prohibited drafting),” “asking an AI tool to identify repetitive passages in a paper that should be cut (prohibited revising),” and “asking an AI tool to polish a paper by correcting grammatical mistakes (prohibited editing).” Students are also prohibited from uploading course materials such as assignments, readings, or class recordings into generative AI systems, according to the same X post. (RELATED: Commencement Speaker Mercilessly Booed After Telling Grads That AI Is The ‘Next Industrial Revolution’)
In addition, the policy states that “instructors may deviate from the default rule for courses designed intentionally to teach AI fluency (or for other courses for which the instructor decides a distinct rule is pedagogically appropriate).” Instructors who deviate from the rule must notify students in writing and with an appropriate amount of notice. Students must disclose AI use to their instructors and obtain written clarification if a particular use of AI violates their instructor’s policy.
The new policy replaces a previous AI policy that was adopted by the law school in 2023, according to Reuters. Under the 2023 policy, students could use AI tools to conduct research or correct grammar. Students were not allowed to use AI tools to compose assignments, on exams, or in any way that constituted plagiarism, however. The previous policy was developed by Professor Chris Hoofnagle and two other faculty members, according to the outlet.
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Hoofnagle helped to draft the law school’s new AI policy following an increase in academic misconduct cases linked to alleged AI misuse, Reuters reported.
In discussing the change in policy on X, Hoofnagle said the new policy “is about protecting the formative skills of lawyering, from case research to analytical judgment. After those are established, students have lots of opportunity [sic] to use AI. Also, any instructor can opt out of the default rule.” Hoofnagle also said he uses Onetutor.ai in his torts class, according to the same post.
The policy change seeks to “protect the cognitive skills constitutive of a legal education,” which is why students are not allowed to use AI tools to conceptualize, draft, revise, or translate work they are submitting for credit, Hoofnagle explained in a separate thread posted on X.
A spokesperson for UC Berkeley School of Law directed The Daily Caller to an online copy of the AI policy and both of Hoofnagle’s X posts when contacted for comment.
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