Two prestigious U.S. law schools are requiring applicants to use artificial intelligence in their admissions essays, marking a significant shift from the typical prohibition against AI assistance in college applications. The University of Michigan and University of Miami law schools have introduced AI-powered essay questions for fall 2026 admissions, reflecting AI’s growing integration into legal education and practice.
What you should know: These schools are pioneering a new approach to evaluating prospective law students’ AI competency alongside traditional metrics.
- The University of Miami requires applicants to create detailed prompts for generative AI tools like ChatGPT to generate a “comprehensive analysis” about choosing law schools, plus three to five follow-up prompts for deeper exploration.
- Michigan Law asks students to use AI to answer: “How much do you use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT right now?” and predict their future usage by graduation.
- Both schools maintain strict AI bans for personal statements and other traditional essays.
The big picture: Law schools are adapting admissions processes to assess students’ readiness for an AI-integrated legal profession.
- “It helps me see their maturity level and how they’re thinking about these questions, and whether they’re coming in with the AI skills that are needed as we are expanding AI in the classrooms,” said Katrin Hussmann Schroll, Miami’s associate dean of enrollment management.
- The essays provide admissions officers with insights into applicants’ motivations and technical capabilities that weren’t previously available.
Early adoption rates: Student response to these AI essay options varies significantly between schools.
- Only about 5% of Michigan Law applicants have chosen the AI essay from among 10 possible topics, according to senior assistant dean Sarah Zearfoss.
- Miami’s AI essay has proven more popular, with 45% of applicants submitting responses so far.
- “I’ve definitely seen some quite good ones—and also many that are, as you would expect, bland or dull,” Zearfoss noted about the quality of submissions.
Why this matters: This represents a broader trend of AI becoming mandatory training at more U.S. law schools as the legal profession grapples with integrating artificial intelligence tools.
- The essays serve as both an assessment tool and a window into how future lawyers will interact with AI technology.
- “It’s giving us a unique insight into applicants that we didn’t have before,” Schroll explained about the value of these AI-powered responses.
Recent Stories
DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment
The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...
Oct 17, 2025Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom
Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...
Oct 17, 2025Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development
The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...