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Monday, August 31, 2026

Straws in the Wind - Part 450

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: The University of Chicago’s undergraduate social-sciences division will go “analog” this fall, implementing a blanket policy banning technology in class and AI assistance on coursework across the division’s core courses. New restrictions apply to students and faculty members in required social-sciences core sequences, which students typically complete in three phases during their sophomore year. The university’s law school announced earlier this summer a similar ban in required first-year core courses.

While many professors across the country have taken to banning tech in their classrooms and adding AI policies to their syllabi amid students’ increasing use of large language models, or LLMs, on coursework, the new policy at Chicago is among the first to articulate a coordinated prohibition. The university provides free Claude subscriptions to all students and faculty members through a contract with Anthropic, which has spurred debate over the role of AI and tech in learning.

The undergraduate social-sciences division will also ban in-class audio or video recording and prohibit faculty members from using generative AI to assist in grading. The policy memo outlining the changes, obtained and published on Sunday by the university’s undergraduate student newspaper, The Chicago Maroon, specifies that “wearable AI,” such as Meta’s AI glasses, are also prohibited in class...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/u-of-chicagos-social-sciences-division-bans-tech-ai-in-core-courses.

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