UP College of Law bars AI, devices in first-year core subjects

The University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law has restricted the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and digital or electronic devices in onsite first-year Juris Doctor classes for core subjects beginning the Academic Year 2026-2027.

The policy, outlined in guidelines released on Aug. 4, 2026, is aimed at "recommitting to the fundamentals of legal analysis" in the time of AI, the law school said.

It acknowledged that Philippine law schools "have grappled with how to prepare future lawyers for a world where AI technologies are widely used."

"The lack of academic consensus has led our sector to vacillate between keeping AI out of the law school and embracing it totally, even as questions persist on its efficiency, effectiveness, and ethical use, not least because of its environmental impact," UP Law said.

It said it has observed "a considerable decline in the quality of reasoning and argumentation coinciding with the regular use of AI by students for case briefing, answering simple queries during class, and research."

The law school added that employer feedback on its recent graduates has reinforced its concerns that many students have become "not just AI-literate but AI-dependent."

"We have therefore found neither complete isolation nor complete acceptance satisfactory. We acknowledge the pervasiveness of AI technologies and our responsibility to prepare our students for their ethical use. However, we believe that these tools at best supplement strong analytical skills," it said.

"Moreover, we are gravely concerned that their use by lawyers without a strong grasp of legal fundamentals risks not only malpractice but the dehumanization and misapplication of law and its divorce from the social condition," it added.

The College said it would implement the following at the first-year level of the Juris Doctor program beginning AY 2026-2027:

1-To the greatest extent possible, first-year core subjects (i.e., those traditionally tested in the Philippine Bar Exam) shall be taught offline. This means that instruction shall return fully onsite for core subjects, except in exigent circumstances, make-up classes, or when excepted by the Dean.

"For core subjects that are taught onsite, the use of digital or electronic devices (e.g., phones, laptops, tablets, smart watches, smart glasses, recorders) shall be prohibited for any purpose including notetaking, except when allowed by the instructor as necessary for a class activity (e.g., presentation) or in exigent circumstances, with the instructor’s prior permission," the law school said.

Major assessments (e., midterm and final examinations) for core subjects shall be administered individually (cf. via group work) and conducted offline and onsite, it added.

2-For writing assignments (e.g., academic papers, legal memos), especially those in the research and method courses, students shall be prohibited from: (a) relying on generative AI for any part of the research and writing process, from conceptualization to writing and finalization, including editing and grammar checks; and (b) research or law databases that are principally reliant on AI.

For this purpose, the Legal Research Cluster, in consultation with the Faculty Colloquium on Technology, Legal Education and Law Practice (the “Colloquium”), shall prepare a list of databases that must be introduced in these courses, the law school said.

"Faculty may introduce principally AI-based research technologies and tools to their classes only if consistent with the intent of this policy, with the endorsement of the Legal Research Cluster, and after students are taught and satisfactorily assessed on research fundamentals," it said.

"Faculty who will permit such limited AI use have an ethical duty to actively supervise students. They must likewise require students to submit detailed disclosures explaining the scope and extent of their use of the specified technology or software. Such disclosures must appear in the output itself and at all relevant stages (e.g., drafts)," it added.

3-For core subjects, the mere possession within one’s person of digital or electronic devices in onsite courses for assessments shall be considered as an offense against academic integrity and shall subject the erring student to formal disciplinary action.

"We must train students to master skills that the technology cannot replace: deriving legal arguments from language and social context, finding or creating law in or from its interstices, and transposing these to actual cases and situations in the persuasive, ethical, and humane manner that underlies the law’s legitimacy," the UP law school said.

"Whereas the task-oriented logic of generative AI presents immediate responses for any prompt, we envision students who can be comfortable in uncertainty and patient with the arduousness and rigors of serious inquiry," it added. —LDF, GMA News