Recent Reports of Law Schools’ AI Adoption Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

This latest Reuters story caught my consideration: “Greater than half of legislation colleges now supply courses on AI,” it stated, citing a brand new survey performed by the American Bar Affiliation. Different experiences within the information and on LinkedIn sounded an identical takeaway.

Certainly, the survey, AI and Authorized Training Survey Outcomes 2024, just lately launched by the ABA’s Process Pressure on Regulation and Synthetic Intelligence, discovered that 55% of the legislation colleges that responded to the survey now supply courses devoted to educating college students about AI.

Much more, the survey stated, “an amazing majority (83%) reported the provision of curricular alternatives, together with clinics, the place college students can learn to use AI instruments successfully.”

However right here’s the rub: In line with the ABA, there are 197 accredited legislation colleges in the USA. This survey stated it was despatched to 200 legislation faculty deans, so it will need to have included some unaccredited colleges.

Of these 200 colleges, simply 29 replied.

So when the survey stated that 55% of respondents now supply AI courses, it meant simply 16 legislation colleges.

Do the maths: That’s 8% of all legislation colleges, not 55%.

And when it stated that 83% reported the provision of AI-related curricular alternatives, that interprets to 24 colleges, or simply 12% of all legislation colleges.

To be truthful, the authors explicitly state that the survey is “not a scientifically dependable measure of how authorized schooling as an entire is responding to AI,” citing the restricted pattern dimension and potential response bias.

Nonetheless, the survey contains sweeping conclusions, comparable to this:

“General, the survey means that AI is already having a big influence on authorized schooling and is more likely to lead to extra adjustments within the years forward. With a majority of responding legislation colleges providing devoted AI programs and offering alternatives for college kids to have interaction with AI instruments, it’s evident that authorized schooling is evolving to satisfy the calls for of a occupation more and more formed by technological developments.”

Amongst those that performed the survey was Andrew Perlman, dean of Suffolk College Regulation Faculty. I requested him, in mild of the survey’s small response price, what he thought was the import of the findings. Here’s what he stated:

“As famous within the report itself, the low response price makes it tough to attract agency conclusions about what legislation colleges are doing total. For instance, it’s definitely doable that legislation colleges which can be already doing extra work on this space had been extra inclined to answer the survey, making it appear as if a bigger share of legislation colleges are already adapting.

“That stated, I feel the survey will be learn to imply {that a} materials variety of legislation colleges are responding aggressively to developments associated to AI on the whole and generative AI particularly. I view the survey outcomes to be an indication of what’s to come back when it comes to authorized schooling, even when the survey will not be a legitimate measure of what’s at the moment happening at each faculty.”

Perlman’s extra measured view appears the extra correct one. Undoubtedly, these legislation colleges that now supply AI courses are harbingers of what’s to come back.

However do greater than half of legislation colleges now supply courses on AI? This survey merely doesn’t reply that query.

My very own scientifically unreliable guess: I extremely doubt it.