GAVEL GAMUT

By Jim Redwine

www.jamesmredwine.com

(Week of 21 July 2025)

ARTIFICIAL PRECEDENT

Judges, juries, lawyers and media beware! That information you think is factual may be a hallucination. No, not ghosts, but false citations to previous court decisions or “evidence” generated by the use of internet technology such as Artificial Intelligence and posted online via X, Chatbot/Chatbox, Facebook, Instagram or one of numerous other methods for people to share thoughts and information, almost always unvetted and often anonymously. Artificial Intelligence is an enormously powerful way to sift through vast amounts of related data without delving into the basis for the data then to produce technological, but not verified, conclusions

Until AI began to be used for writing term papers or even Ph.D. theses just a few years ago, people had to do tedious, extensive, time-consuming research and investigations to prepare news reports or file legal briefs with a court. Ethical reporters had to develop actual sources and lawyers had to cite truly existing cases to support their positions, cases they had personally read. But we are mere humans and such things as time constraints, lack of resources, bias and prejudice, some not even realized, laziness and a prevalent tendency in almost everybody to believe the worst in almost everyone else, leads us to publish before we verify and believe before we validate.

Such human frailty has long led to unjust treatment of others. And, of course, most of us have had the unfortunate experience of being falsely maligned ourselves. Yet, we still often succumb to the salacious and demeaning aspersions cast upon others, especially in the highly charged atmosphere of court cases. That is why jurors must not heed out-of-court information and lawyers must not cite cases they have not read. Ah, were it all that easy.

Just a few weeks ago a federal judge in Colorado discovered two attorneys had filed a court document, “…[F]illed with a host of mistakes and citations” including fake cases made up by AI. Non-lawyer readers of Gavel Gamut might ask, “So what?” Well, Gentle Reader, it matters because our judicial system operates on precedent. A judge in a current case often decides based upon how similar cases have been decided. The wisdom of the past is often dispositive in the present. Public confidence in our legal system and the fairness of courts is heavily influenced by consistency and predictability. What happened in previous, similar cases should be expected in the current case unless there are extenuating, explicable circumstances.

So, if judges are led by false precedents, the basis of all legal reasoning, analogy, is subverted and the public will not support one of the three branches of our democracy. It may be subtle, it may take numerous judicial errors brought on by legal hallucinations, but, eventually our faith in our legal system will suffer.

If the referenced recent case of inappropriate use of AI was an anomaly, we might not get exorcised about it. However, in the last three years there have been several high profile cases where attorneys have turned to AI without vetting their research results. Use of AI is neither illegal or immoral when used by anyone. But the use of AI can be both if careful verification and objective analysis is not applied.

In conclusion, it might be worthwhile to make another analogy, say to a case in which instead of a party in court we think of ourselves as patients on the operating table. Do we want our surgeons to use unvetted AI?

For more Gavel Gamut articles go to www.jamesmredwine.com

ACE offers its students high-quality online instruction and engaging and relevant curriculum, while avoiding unnecessary expenses.

INDIANAPOLIS,(Newswire.com) – Getting your degree online should be less expensive than pursuing it in person, but recent reports show traditional colleges charge as much or more for online courses than in-person programs. In May 2025, the Hechinger Report documented how the costs of online education are soaring because colleges have recognized online education as a money-making opportunity, even though technology allows it to easily scale while avoiding bricks-and-mortar overhead costs.

American College of Education (ACE) builds its programs online-first, optimized for a fully virtual experience and designed to be relevant to today’s economy. That relentless focus on high-quality online teaching and learning allows ACE to keep its expenses in check and pass savings on to its students. ACE has not raised tuition since 2016¹, making its tuition among the most affordable in the nation.

ACE, founded in 2005, is a national innovator providing quality, affordable and accredited online undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees. ACE is the third-highest conferrer of education master’s degrees in the United States². ACE’s low tuition enables nearly nine out of 10 students to graduate debt-free³.

“At ACE, students are learning through a truly online, career-focused program, not a traditional classroom program that is forced into an online format,” said ACE President and CEO Geordie Hyland. “That way, ACE provides education that delivers real returns for the student and does it more efficiently and affordably.”

While 80% of people believe online education should be less expensive than in-person programs, a 2024 survey of colleges’ online learning officers found that 83% of schools charge the same tuition or more. A 2024 report by the Education Data Initiative found that at public four-year colleges, the tuition rate for online instruction was $341 per credit, slightly higher than the $325 per credit cost for in-person instruction.

In contrast, ACE provides an education that nine out of 10 students and 96% of employers consistently recommend, and at far less than the average cost: $215 per credit hour for most bachelor’s-level courses, $235 per credit hour for master’s-level courses and $306 per credit hour for doctoral-level courses.

The key is ACE’s high-quality instruction and its curriculum development process. ACE’s faculty are pro-active, passionate practitioners who bring real-world and relevant experience into the online classroom.

ACE’s curriculum is purpose-built for effective online learning. “We build our courses the same way you build a house,” said Jill Delcambre, ACE’s vice president of learning innovation and design. “You don’t start with the materials – you start with a blueprint of where you want everything to go and how it all fits together.”

ACE’s curriculum development process begins with academic leadership conducting program planning through market research and stakeholder input to determine the concepts and skills each course should cover. From there, ACE develops learning outcomes and a “course map” for the faculty to create content.

Faculty members collaborate with ACE’s dedicated curriculum development team to create the course, which is usually a 12-week process. They plan and develop the course content, ensuring programs and courses have measurable outcomes and that materials are at the proper level and that student expectations are clear.

ACE’s learning design team creates visually engaging, accessible and easy-to-navigate courses in the online platform for a seamless learning experience. “Another thing that ACE does differently is that we produce all of our video in-house,” Delcambre explained. The e-learning content designers produce all course videos – whether filmed with faculty in the ACE studio or designer-created content – ensuring engaging, top-quality video and vocal presentation. “We’re not going to send students to YouTube to watch videos someone else has created or just put someone in front of a camera and have them start talking,” Delcambre said. “We ensure that the content in our videos is evidence-based, backed by research and pulls students in to create meaningful engagement and active learning.”

The content designers also leverage AI as a tool to help them create interactive elements for students. For example, an education course’s module on classroom management would include designer-created “branching scenarios,” built with AI assistance, on how teachers should handle specific situations.

ACE’s rigorous development process is designed to ensure that courses keep students engaged and learning, and in a manner that allows the content to remain relevant and updated. This commitment to quality through in-house development and production represents a significant institutional investment that ultimately benefits students through both quality control and affordability. “Our investment in our courses is significant, but it’s an institutional priority that we absorb rather than pass on to students,” Delcambre said. “We’re intentional about incorporating technology that enhances learning outcomes and serves a clear educational purpose.”

ACE can also keep tuition low because of its intentional decision to forego Title IV federal student loans, even though the college is qualified to accept them. By avoiding the administrative and overhead costs of the loan programs, ACE can reduce its operational expenses and the related costs to students.

With ACE’s degree programs built and priced as true online services, students are paying less than they would for online programs offered by colleges with a physical campus. For more information, please visit ace.edu.

¹ Excludes RN to BSN program

² nces.ed.gov/IPEDS/datacenter

³ Internal research completed in March 2025

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN  – U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Indiana Governor Mike Braun, Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner and Indiana Secretary of Energy and Natural Resources Suzanne Jaworowski visited Purdue University today to highlight Indiana’s comprehensive approach to reimagining education through the lens of career alignment and student success.

“It is an honor to host Secretary McMahon in the state of Indiana and allow her to see first-hand why Indiana has emerged as a national leader in education and innovation,” said Governor Braun. “Indiana is boldly investing in emerging sectors that will shape the future of our economy and national competitiveness. Central to this commitment is a strategic focus on good-paying jobs in market-driven industries that hold transformative potential for Indiana’s education system, economy, and long-term prosperity.”

As part of the visit, Secretary McMahon, Governor Braun, Secretary Jenner and Secretary Jaworowski toured Purdue University’s nationally-recognized research facilities in nuclear engineering and artificial intelligence (AI).

Leaders also engaged in a roundtable discussion with stakeholders from K-12 education, higher education, and local industry to discuss how Indiana is:

• Leveraging cross-sector partnerships to develop future-ready talent pipelines,
• Embedding workforce-aligned competencies in both secondary and postsecondary education, and
• Positioning Hoosier students to lead in the innovation economy

“Indiana is truly on the leading edge when it comes to rethinking the four years of high school,” said Dr. Jenner. “The collaboration that exists across K-12, higher education, and industry is instrumental in preparing students for their unique future, whether that includes college, a career, or military service. I am grateful for the work that was on display today from team Indiana and look forward to continuing to find bold, collaborative ways to improve outcomes for the next generation of Indiana leaders.”