Chatterbox: Is ChatGPT Going to Take Your Job?

Every lawyer I've spoken to in the last month or so, has been talking about ChatGPT, which has sort of captured the societal zeitgeist.  And, whenever the concepts of machine learning or artificial intelligence are brought up – they’re two very different things, actually – attorneys always start asking: Is this new tech going to take my job? 

 

Well, if recent use cases respecting ChatGPT are any indication: the answer is a resounding ‘no’.  At least, it appears that a tool like ChatGPT will not be taking over for ‘real’ lawyers any time soon.  So, let’s examine some of the use cases. 

A friend of mine who is an ethics attorney used ChatGPT to find caselaw on an ethics issue - just one problem, ChatGPT completely made up three cases, that didn't actually exist.  Another lawyer asked ChatGPT to create a legal brief - it was great with the case cites (this time), but the narrative was wonky: it wasn't written like a lawyer.  One of my current consulting clients is using ChatGPT to build a pricing schedule and processes, with good results so far.  But, when you directly ask ChatGPT for legal advice, it tells you to contact an attorney.   

 

So, lawyers shouldn't fret too much about being replaced with AI quite yet.  (As if the prior results weren't convincing enough.)   

 

At this point, AI is still an assistive tool for lawyers, but needs far more development (likely decades’ worth) to replace lawyers doing legal actual work. 

 

. . . 

 

If you want to talk about how machine learning and AI can help your law firm, just reach out! 

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