This recent Reuters story caught my consideration: “Greater than half of regulation faculties now provide lessons on AI,” it mentioned, citing a brand new survey performed by the American Bar Affiliation. Different stories within the information and on LinkedIn sounded an analogous takeaway.
Certainly, the survey, AI and Legal Education Survey Results 2024, just lately launched by the ABA’s Activity Drive on Regulation and Synthetic Intelligence, discovered that 55% of the regulation faculties that responded to the survey now provide lessons devoted to instructing college students about AI.
Much more, the survey mentioned, “an awesome 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: According to the ABA, there are 197 accredited regulation faculties in the USA. This survey mentioned it was despatched to 200 regulation faculty deans, so it will need to have included some unaccredited faculties.
Of these 200 faculties, simply 29 replied.
So when the survey mentioned that 55% of respondents now provide AI lessons, it meant simply 16 regulation faculties.
Do the maths: That’s 8% of all regulation faculties, not 55%.
And when it mentioned that 83% reported the provision of AI-related curricular alternatives, that interprets to 24 faculties, or simply 12% of all regulation faculties.
To be honest, 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 measurement and potential response bias.
Nonetheless, the survey consists of sweeping conclusions, resembling this:
“General, the survey means that AI is already having a big impression on authorized schooling and is prone to end in extra modifications within the years forward. With a majority of responding regulation faculties providing devoted AI programs and offering alternatives for college students to have interaction with AI instruments, it’s evident that authorized schooling is evolving to satisfy the calls for of a career more and more formed by technological developments.”
Amongst those that performed the survey was Andrew Perlman, dean of Suffolk College Regulation College. I requested him, in mild of the survey’s small response charge, what he thought was the import of the findings. Here’s what he mentioned:
“As famous within the report itself, the low response charge makes it troublesome to attract agency conclusions about what regulation faculties are doing general. For instance, it’s actually potential that regulation faculties which can be already doing extra work on this space have been extra inclined to answer the survey, making it appear as if a bigger proportion of regulation faculties are already adapting.
“That mentioned, I believe the survey could be learn to imply {that a} materials variety of regulation faculties are responding aggressively to developments associated to AI normally 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 is probably not 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 regulation faculties that now provide AI lessons are harbingers of what’s to come back.
However do greater than half of regulation faculties now provide lessons on AI? This survey merely doesn’t reply that query.
My very own scientifically unreliable guess: I extremely doubt it.
