# University of Chicago Law School Bans Electronic Devices to Limit AI Tool Access During Instruction

> The University of Chicago Law School is banning electronic devices in its first-year classrooms, a pointed response to how thoroughly generative AI has seeped into student work. With laptops and phones gone, the school is betting that the old-fashioned cold call and handwritten notes still teach something a chatbot cannot. The reasoning is pedagogical rather than punitive. Legal education leans heavily on learning to reason under pressure, and administrators argue that easy access to AI during instruction quietly erodes that skill. The move is less about catching cheaters than about protecting the cognitive workout that is supposed to happen in the room. It is a small policy at one school, but it captures a growing tension across education. As AI tools become ubiquitous and genuinely helpful, institutions are being forced to decide which parts of learning are worth deliberately doing the hard way.

_Section: [Daily AI Updates](https://www.wortins.com/daily-ai) · Source: BuildFastWithAI · Published Tuesday, July 14, 2026_

## Wortins' read

The University of Chicago Law School is banning electronic devices in its first-year classrooms, a pointed response to how thoroughly generative AI has seeped into student work. With laptops and phones gone, the school is betting that the old-fashioned cold call and handwritten notes still teach something a chatbot cannot. The reasoning is pedagogical rather than punitive. Legal education leans heavily on learning to reason under pressure, and administrators argue that easy access to AI during instruction quietly erodes that skill. The move is less about catching cheaters than about protecting the cognitive workout that is supposed to happen in the room. It is a small policy at one school, but it captures a growing tension across education. As AI tools become ubiquitous and genuinely helpful, institutions are being forced to decide which parts of learning are worth deliberately doing the hard way.

## Source

[Read the full story at BuildFastWithAI](https://www.buildfastwithai.com/blogs/ai-news-today-july-14-2026)

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