Legal Brief: The World’s First Attempt at AI Regulation

Types : Bylined Articles

Europe leads the way, but the U.S. is sure to follow

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Christian Lous Lange said: “Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.” That phrase is being put to the test today, as Artificial Intelligence and biometrics are just two broad categories of the many types of useful technologies changing the world across many professions and in everyday life.

My law firm receives solicitations daily from companies seeking to sell us the latest legal technology, such as AI-generated legal research, drafting tools, or e-discovery platforms. In mid-2023, a New York lawyer used the AI tool ChatGPT for legal research. While that is unconventional, there is nothing inherently wrong with using it for research; however, that presumes the lawyer confirmed the accuracy of the research. He did not.

The case involved a man suing an airline over an alleged personal injury. The lawyer submitted a brief that cited several previous court cases. The defense lawyers for the airline alerted the judge that they could not find several of the cases cited in the brief, and the court determined that at least six of the cases were not real – they were made-up cases with fictitious quotes by ChatGPT. Thus, the brief contained fabricated information that could not be used in a court filing.

The lawyer claimed that he was unaware that the content generated by ChatGPT could be false. This was foolishly naïve and resulted in disciplinary proceedings against the lawyer for failing to meet professional standards.