The University of Chicago has adopted a new social sciences core policy that generally requires students to read, write and analyze without AI help. The editorial says the move is meant to strengthen critical thinking before students use AI tools. It also says professors will not be allowed to use AI to write syllabuses or course materials, and AI use in grading will be tightly restricted.
If a muscle atrophies, our bodies weaken. We can’t walk very far, we can’t lift things.
When your ability to think atrophies, well, that’s arguably a whole lot worse. “Cogito, ergo sum,” or — “I think, therefore I am,” as René Descartes put it.
Thinking, thus, is as elemental as breathing. Universities should create the conditions for students to learn how to do it well, and the University of Chicago (U. of C.) has struck an important blow to that end.
Leaning on the convenience of artificial intelligence for writing assignments comes at a cognitive cost: A reduction in critical thinking, according to a 2025 study from researchers at MIT, Wellesley and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
