University of Texas Law School declares no AI to prevent 'cognitive deskilling'!

The ABAJournal.com reported that the UT Dean sent an 8-page memo to the “Faculty at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law should emphasize Socratic questioning to make sure that the students don’t experience “cognitive deskilling,” or the erosion of their reasoning abilities, from using artificial intelligence, according to an eight-page memo from the law school's dean sent last week.”  The June 23, 2026 article entitled " University of Texas law dean shifts AI policy to prevent 'cognitive deskilling' (https://tinyurl.com/ypek3542) included these comments:

 While stressing the need to teach AI skills, law school dean Robert “Bobby” Chesney wrote that professors must “emphasize to students the value of doing the hard work in the first instance themselves.”

“The lawyers most likely to flourish in the years ahead are those who both are adept at making wise use of AI capabilities and possess the same expert judgment and perspective that have always been the hallmarks of the best lawyers,” he added.

The memo comes as law schools reexamine teaching methods, particularly around ethics and legal writing, related to AI. For instance, last month, the University of California at Berkeley School of Law announced a new policy that bans students from using AI for class assignments and during exams.

The classroom, Chesney wrote, is the only place where professors can be certain the student is learning without AI.

His approach focuses on three areas: determining what AI skills to teach, maintaining the validity of graded assessments, and ensuring that students don’t use AI to replace reading legal materials and developing reasoning skills.

While underscoring the beneficial uses for AI in the classroom, such as generating practice exams and functioning as a tutor, Chesney warned that “AI also can be used as shortcut that quickly and easily puts an answer into a student’s hands, replacing deeper learning with a more-superficial semblance.”

And though students have always found shortcuts, “AI will likely prove to be considerably more tempting than the traditional bypasses,” he added.

Whatdoyouthink?