AI-assisted California bar exam writing sparks controversy

California’s unexpected use of AI to generate bar exam questions has triggered significant backlash from the legal education community. The revelation comes amid existing complaints about technical failures during exam administration, raising serious questions about assessment quality and fairness in one of America’s most demanding professional licensing exams. This controversy highlights the tension between embracing new technologies in professional testing and maintaining standards in legal qualification.

The big picture: The State Bar of California admitted that 23 of the 171 scored multiple-choice questions on its February 2025 bar exam were created with AI assistance, sparking outrage among legal educators and test takers.

• The AI-generated questions were developed by the State Bar’s psychometrician, ACS Ventures, and allegedly underwent review by content validation panels and subject matter experts.
• The remaining questions came from a first-year law student exam (48 questions) and Kaplan Exam Services (100 questions).

Key reactions: Legal education experts have expressed shock and dismay at the use of AI to craft bar exam questions without proper disclosure.

• Mary Basick, assistant dean at UC Irvine School of Law, called it “worse than we imagined” and found it “unbelievable” that questions were drafted by non-lawyers using artificial intelligence.
• Katie Moran from the University of San Francisco School of Law described it as “a staggering admission,” pointing out the conflict of interest in having the same company both generate and approve the questions.

Institutional confusion: The disclosure reveals apparent communication gaps between California’s judicial leadership and its bar examination authorities.

• The California Supreme Court claimed it “was unaware that AI had been used to draft any of the multiple-choice questions” until the State Bar’s press release, despite being the ultimate authority over bar admissions.
• Alex Chan, chair of the State Bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners, noted that the Supreme Court had actually encouraged exploration of “new technologies, such as artificial intelligence” to improve testing reliability and cost-effectiveness.

Compounding problems: The AI revelation follows numerous technical issues with the February 2025 bar exam administration.

• Test takers reported being kicked off online testing platforms, experiencing screen lag and error messages, and encountering typos and confusing questions.
• These problems have already prompted a federal lawsuit against Meazure Learning, the exam administrator, and calls for an audit of the State Bar.

What’s next: The State Bar plans to request that the California Supreme Court adjust scores for February exam takers while resisting a return to National Conference of Bar Examiners exams for July.

• The bar cited test security concerns with remote testing options as justification for not returning to national exams.