UChicago Goes “Analog” for Some Courses

As many colleges and universities race to infuse AI into the classroom, the University of Chicago wants to keep some foundational classes old-school. 

Beginning this fall semester, the university will prohibit the use of AI in its core social sciences courses, which are part of the required undergraduate general studies curriculum. 

According to an Aug. 1 memo that Jenny Trinitapoli, master of the university’s Social Sciences Collegiate Division, sent to the chairs of the program, the decision was made in consultation with faculty and reflects “the strong consensus of the SOSC core … that our sequences are best understood as a pedagogical setting without AI.”

In addition to banning AI in social sciences general education classes, the university has also designed them to be taught as “analog” courses. That means students will read texts on paper and engage with the material primarily through mandatory in-person guided discussions unmediated by devices. 

The announcement comes as the wide availability of generative AI tools has raised academic integrity concerns across higher education. 

“At UChicago we train students to use both reason and specialized knowledge in preparation for life as a free person, as well as for further scholarly pursuit. Both pursuits require a confrontation with rapid social change in the global world of the 21st century, and AI is one such instance of rapid social change,” Trinitapoli wrote in the memo. “Meant to lay the groundwork for higher level study at the College, in the SOSC Core we first equip students to read, write, and think without dependence on AI, just as we equip students to read, write, and think beyond the bounds of conventional views or leading ideologies.”

This isn’t the university’s first move to put limits on AI use. Last month, the University of Chicago Law School announced a ban on laptops, tablets and phones in the classroom starting this fall in an effort to preserve discussion-based learning in the age of AI.