Arizona State Law School Allows New Students to Use AI on Applications The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University has announced that it will permit prospective students to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help draft their applications. Stacy Leeds said that the school wanted students to know that the use of AI is acceptable ahead of the admissions cycle beginning. 10 August. “This is just one more of the tools that is in their toolbox when they think about how to present their admissions package,” Leeds said. Leeds pointed out that lawyers and law students are already making use of AI, but noted that the new policy is limited to prospective students. The law school is still in the process of drafting rules concerning the use of AI in the classroom and for coursework. The move follows a decision from the University of Michigan Law School banning the use of widely used AI tools such as ChatGPT on student applications and requiring applicants to certify that they have adhered to the restriction. A spokesperson for the school added that applicants will be required to clarify that they used an AI as part of the application process and certify that the information submitted is truthful. The spokesperson also noted that the school has previously asked prospective students to confirm whether they have used a professional consultant as part of their applications, and that AI tools are widely available regardless of applicants’ economic situations. Arizona Law School dean Monthly Round-Up SEPTEMBER 2023 Trump Indicted Over Efforts to Overturn 2020 Election Former US President Donald Trump was indicted on 2 August by a federal grand jury for his allegedly illegal attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power. On 24 August, Trump turned himself in to be booked at the Fulton County Jail. The indictment charges Trump with conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against the rights of citizens. The charges follow special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump’s actions following his election loss, culminating in his supporters’ attempted storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. “The Defendant lost the 2020 presidential election”, the indictment states on its first page. “Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power. So for more than two months following election day on 3 November, 2020, the defendant spread lies … that he had actually won.” The latest allegations mark the third time in four months that criminal charges have been brought against the former president. The new indictment names six co-conspirators, of whom one is believed to be former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was Trump’s attorney following his election defeat. Immediately following its announcement, Trump’s re-election campaign team denounced the indictment. “The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes,” the campaign said in a post on Truth Social. 6 LAWYER MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2023
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