Page 8 - May June 2023 CBA Report

Taking a Closer Look at AI,
ChatGPT and the
Legal Field
The intersection of technological advancement and legal practice is exciting — and complex
As the legal industry continues to embrace technology, arti- ficial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) are gaining increasing attention as tools for legal research and analysis. One such AI tool is ChatGPT, a language model developed by OpenAI, which uses natural language processing to generate human-like responses to text-based queries. Legal professionals are exploring the potential of ChatGPT and other AI and LLMs to streamline research, analyze complex legal documents, and improve deci- sion-making processes. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how these cutting-edge technologies are being used in the legal industry and explore their potential impact on the practice of law.
If the above paragraph has you intrigued, well, you’ve been seduced by a robot. Such is the power of AI and LLMs like ChatGPT: They’re becoming so intuitive — and ubiquitous — that it’s hard to distinguish between what’s machine-generated and what’s not. For legal practitioners, the necessity of distinction goes even further: You need to be aware of what’s
By Leyla Shokoohe
of Chat GPT they are using, and the terms under which they’re using the application.
At Baker Hostetler, we have a team called IncuBaker. They track and stay up to date on legal technology and help us and our clients develop solutions to improve through technology. They are working on procuring private versions of an AI LLM (large language model tool.) Once we have our own private instance of the tool, we can load documents into it without worrying about those becoming public or being used by competitors. A lot of the concern for our team is that you train the tool once, but if the vendor goes to a new version, you have to train all over again. So there can be a lot of cost and time in training and retaining these models — you have to balance the cost vs. ROI.
We are also aware that some firms are using Chat GPT today in non-legal ways, like creating press releases. Other firms are looking at it to help with internal research and contracts drafting, but all of that has to be built up and trained.
What are some of the potential legal issues AI
raises?
TS: Whatever you put in the public Chat GPT instance, the terms of use say the vendor is allowed to use that input to train its model and keep copies. This creates concerns about confiden- tiality, and for lawyers, privilege. We are counseling clients to not put anything confidential in public LLM tools.
Another concern is around infringement. Basically GPT scrubs the internet — that’s where it gets all its source informa- tion. So if it’s pulling software code, quotes, etc., we don’t know where it’s coming from because it doesn’t attribute what it spits outs. If you use ChatGPT outputs on your website or put it in the source code of your software, there’s no guarantee that what ChatGPT gave you wasn’t owned by somebody else. Your repro- duction and distribution of the material have infringed upon someone else’s copyright.
The interaction of AI tools with other applications and systems is another interesting issue. Over the last few years, lots of clients have procured commercial AI tools, and we have been doing it
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THE REPORT | May/June 2023 | CincyBar.org
lawful and what’s ethical when engaging with AI tools.
To help us out, we checked in with Tim Swan, a partner at Baker Hostetler, in prac- tice for 18 years and focused on complex technology transactions. Swan is in the Baker Hostetler business group and has seen the use of AI and LLMs explode in recent years.
Swan
What is the conversation surrounding AI in the legal workplace? How are people encountering AI there?
TS: Recently, GPT has been front of mind for lots of clients and for us. Our clients’ employees, and our employees, want to us it. They ask if they “can” and what the parameters are around what they can do. A lot of that turns into follow-up questions as to what the client or employee is actually using — finding out what version