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State Bar of California admits it used AI to develop exam questions, triggering new furor
Los Angeles Times ^ | April 23, 2025 3 AM PT | Jenny Jarvie

Posted on 04/23/2025 4:48:00 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Nearly two months after hundreds of prospective California lawyers complained that their bar exams were plagued with technical problems and irregularities, the state’s legal licensing body has caused fresh outrage by admitting that some multiple-choice questions were developed with the aid of artificial intelligence.

The State Bar of California said in a news release Monday that it will ask the California Supreme Court to adjust test scores for those who took its February bar exam.

But it declined to acknowledge significant problems with its multiple-choice questions — even as it revealed that a subset of questions were recycled from a first-year law student exam, while others were developed with the assistance of AI by ACS Ventures, the State Bar’s independent psychometrician.

“The debacle that was the February 2025 bar exam is worse than we imagined,” said Mary Basick, assistant dean of academic skills at UC Irvine Law School. “I’m almost speechless. Having the questions drafted by non-lawyers using artificial intelligence is just unbelievable.”

After completing the exam, Basick said, some test takers complained that some of the questions felt as if they were written by AI.

“I defended the bar,” Basick said. “‘No way! They wouldn’t do that!’”

Using AI-developed questions written by non-legally-trained psychometricians represented “an obvious conflict of interest,” Basick argued, because “these are the same psychometricians tasked with establishing that the questions are valid and reliable.”

“It’s a staggering admission,” agreed Katie Moran, an associate professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law who specializes in bar exam preparation.

“The State Bar has admitted they employed a company to have a non-lawyer use AI to draft questions that were given on the actual bar exam,” she said. “They then paid that same company to assess and ultimately approve of the questions on the exam,...”

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 04/23/2025 4:48:00 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“My lawyer army will taste man flesh.” Gaviraun


2 posted on 04/23/2025 4:50:30 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

You mean even AI can’t keep up with all the current changes made by judges in their decisions of our amorphous body of law?


3 posted on 04/23/2025 4:52:52 PM PDT by rottweiller_inc (Lupus urbem intravit. Fulminis ictu vultures super turrem exanimat.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

AI for dumb lawyers!


4 posted on 04/23/2025 4:56:29 PM PDT by DownInFlames (P)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The answer is C. “Elon is a f’n genius, and you’re not.”


5 posted on 04/23/2025 5:03:22 PM PDT by bakeneko
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Can the Bar be sued? If so can they use AI lawyers to defend the AI exam? LOL


6 posted on 04/23/2025 5:03:31 PM PDT by Zack Attack (✔)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

if the once-great State of Californication is gonna use AI to do, compose its various bureaucrappic documents and tests

they should hire a couple 12 year olds who know how to use AI


7 posted on 04/23/2025 5:09:09 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians aren't born, they're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
I asked Grok "Write a question for the California Bar Exam." Here's what it produced:
Question:

In 2024, the California Legislature passed the "Healthy Schools Act," which mandates that all public schools in the state provide free, plant-based meals to students and prohibits the sale or provision of any meat or dairy products on school premises. The stated purpose of the law is to promote student health, reduce environmental impact, and address climate change concerns. The law applies uniformly to all public schools, including those receiving federal funding.

A group of parents and a local dairy farmers' association file a lawsuit in federal court challenging the Healthy Schools Act. The parents argue that the law violates their First Amendment right to free exercise of religion, claiming that their religious beliefs require their children to consume dairy products as part of a balanced diet. The dairy farmers assert that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by unfairly targeting their industry, as plant-based food producers are not similarly restricted. Additionally, both groups argue that the law exceeds the state's authority under the Tenth Amendment by interfering with federal nutrition programs that allow meat and dairy in schools.

You are a law clerk for the federal district court judge hearing the case. The judge asks you to draft a memorandum analyzing the constitutional issues raised by the plaintiffs. Address the following:

Instructions for Examinees:
Provide a clear and concise legal analysis for each issue, applying relevant constitutional principles, case law, and tests (e.g., strict scrutiny, rational basis review, etc.). Identify the likely outcome for each claim based on your analysis. Assume the facts provided are complete and no additional state or federal laws directly conflict with the Healthy Schools Act.

I'm not a lawyer, just a lowly mechanical engineer (who never took the Professional Engineer exam), but that looks pretty good to me.

What does the FReeper Law Team think?

8 posted on 04/23/2025 5:12:12 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“Diversity is our Strength” just doesn’t carry the same message as “Death from Above”)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I don’t see the problem with using AI to develope the questions as long as then are reviewed by people before being used.


9 posted on 04/23/2025 5:22:16 PM PDT by JSM_Liberty
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To: JSM_Liberty
I don’t see the problem with using AI to develope the questions as long as then are reviewed by people before being used.

What I am looking forward to is the day when all customer service is handled by AI and getting in contact with an actual human being is impossible.

That's going to be so much fun!

10 posted on 04/23/2025 5:25:34 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats are the Party of anger, hate and violence.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

California’s lawyers don’t need to know anything about law. All they want to know is Lawfare.


11 posted on 04/23/2025 5:49:48 PM PDT by jonrick46 (Leftniks chase illusions of motherships at the end of the pier.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

lol 🤣


12 posted on 04/23/2025 6:11:02 PM PDT by Pikachu_Dad
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Only a woman could come up with women lawyer questions. Men have no vagina, so, could not.


13 posted on 04/23/2025 9:39:01 PM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The bar is a private organization with no ties to the government whatsoever....
And its run by leftists


14 posted on 04/24/2025 5:02:27 AM PDT by joe fonebone (And the people said NO!! The end.)
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To: joe fonebone
The bar is a private organization with no ties to the government whatsoever.... And its run by leftists

I have no proof but I would bet they get some kind of subsidy from the government. Doesn't everybody who is on the left?

15 posted on 04/24/2025 9:43:44 AM PDT by Lizavetta
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