Washington and Lee University
VA · AI Readiness #223 of 227
AIREDEX™ Score: 3.5 /10
W&L undergrads get a named AI Fellow, a hands-on PLAI Lab, and a 10-day AI bootcamp, with a dedicated AI major, minor, and named governance chair next on the horizon.
The AI and Law Institute, led by Josh Fairfield, runs active LLM stress-testing research with peer-reviewed publications in law journals from 2024 through 2026. AI shows up well beyond STEM too, from a Philosophy course on ChatGPT to AI-generated art and music in development. The PLAI mission statement lays out clear goals for the W&L community. A named governance chair and cross-departmental research center would tie these individual efforts into a defined program.
Pillar grades
- Commitment: D
- Curriculum: D
- Partnerships: F
- Research: C
A(I)ttitude™: cautious
Selected Highlights
- Named AI Fellow (Sybil Prince Nelson, PhD) with explicit AI coordination mandate covering policy and curriculum guidance across the university; Law School Director of AI Legal Innovation Strategy (Josh Fairfield) also named.
- PLAI mission statement and admissions AI guidance page published; operational AI framework exists even without a formal strategy document.
- Microsoft Copilot (web/mobile with commercial data protection) confirmed available to all W&L students and employees via institutional credentials; Smartsheet AI and Zoom AI Companion also institutionally available.
- Multiple distinctly named AI training components confirmed: PLAI Lab (drop-in experimentation space), ITS Academy sessions (AI topics), 10-Day AI Bootcamp (ChatGPT and Claude editions), Law School AI workshops, Library-Harte Center AI workshop, and annual PLAI Summit — all broadly available to students.
- AI embedded in Law (AI and Law Institute), Business Administration (Schatten), Arts/Humanities (Torres/Gholamrezai AI-generated art and music course), Philosophy (Li Kang ChatGPT and Philosophy), and Cognitive/Behavioral Science (Johnson lab).