Lawyers, Accept your Looming Fate: ChatGPT is Here, Are You Ready?
Will AI replace lawyers? An overview — from a lawyer.
Paul and Alice stood at the office coffee machine, their conversation about the implications of ChatGPT and other AI technologies in the legal sector interrupted by the drip, drip, drip of the machine.
Alice shook her head, her eyes narrowing as she spoke. “I’m not sure how these things are going to change things. It’s one thing to automate certain processes, but quite another to ask lawyers to take on a more menial role than they’re accustomed to.”
Paul shrugged. “It’s true that AI systems can’t replace human judgement entirely, but in certain cases, they can certainly help to streamline the process and reduce costs. We just have to figure out where the balance lies.”
Alice sighed, her gaze drifting out of the window to the city below. “It’s a scary thought. We’re at the beginning of a new era, and I’m not sure our traditional understanding of the law is going to be enough to keep up with the changes.”
Paul nodded. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out. We’re lawyers, after all — that’s what we do.” He paused and grinned. “But in the meantime, let’s get some coffee to help us think more clearly.”
The office is abuzz with whispers at the coffee machine, voices laced with fear. Lawyers, research assistants, and business services alike have all tried ChatGPT, and now contemplate a bleak future. “Will we soon be obsolete?” they ask, a chill in their voices often covered by nervous laughters. The thought of becoming superfluous looms so large that none of them can shake it off.
But is this accurate? Will AI make layers obsolete? Let’s take a look.
A brief history of the profession of lawyers
Before we have a glimpse into the future, let’s take a journey back in time and explore when the first lawyers appeared: how far back does their history go?
The practice of law dates back to antiquity, where it was unacceptable to receive a payment for representing someone else. This rule was broken with regularity. In the time of Claudius, lawyers (iuris consulti) were allowed to work openly, but the amount they could get paid was restricted.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the legal profession was in a state of decline. Only those with knowledge of canon law continued to practice. This gradually changed from the 12th to the 13th century, when more men took on canon law as their career. This initiate triggered the regulation of the legal profession and its expansion to include civil and ecclesiastical law.
By 1250, the foundation of a new legal career could be seen emerging. This transformation towards professionalism culminated in a contentious suggestion at the Second Council of Lyon in 1275 that all religious courts must have lawyers take an oath of admission. This notion was not accepted, but it nonetheless had a profound impact on many courts across Europe. In England, the civil courts also began professionalizing; in 1275, a law was passed that penalized professional lawyers convicted of dishonesty.
In the United States, lawyers became powerful local and colony-wide leaders by 1700. They were given more status and recognition as the years progressed, with new regulations and requirements being implemented for admission. By the fourth century, advocates had to be enrolled on the bar of a court to argue before it, and by the sixth century, a regular course of legal study lasting about four years was required for admission.
Throughout the ages, lawyers have been sought out for their legal advice and representation, as well as to serve as guardians of justice. The legal profession has evolved since then, with the emergence of in-house counsels, paralegals, government lawyers, NGO lawyers, real estate brokers, freelance attorneys, legal recruiters, and journalists. All of these roles have become essential components of the field.
It is clear that the profession of lawyer has been around for centuries. From ancient Greece and Rome, to the Middle Ages and the United States, the role of lawyers in society has evolved and changed, but their purpose remains the same. But will AI change that?
ChatGPT3 might be a gamechanger
But now is doom time — or is it? This all thanks to ChatGPT. Just a short overview — what is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a chatbot using OpenAI’s state-of-the-art natural language processing model GPT-3. It is specifically trained to respond to human input in a conversational way and generate human-like text. It can be used in many ways, for example customer service, chatbots, and virtual assistants applications.
ChatGPT uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand and respond to human communication. It is built on the GPT3.5 language model, which is trained with 175 billion parameters or 600GB of data. This is an impressive amount of data, and it’s no wonder that ChatGPT is being hailed as “magical”.
AI systems such as ChatGPT, are revolutionizing the way businesses operate. From large corporations to small startups, companies are reaping the benefits of automation and machine learning algorithms. Cognitive technologies are employed to speed up decision-making and eliminate errors, so long as they are properly configured. Improved productivity, operational efficiency, and fewer mistakes; these are some of the advantages AI offers.
ChatGPT from OpenAI can be utilized to make chatbots and join the advancing world of conversational interfaces. DALL-E, also from OpenAI, provides images quickly. Graphic design can now be done on a large scale, making for visually captivating high school presentations that could have a great effect on the economy. AI technology like ChatGPT could also be used to create an original product without any external help, while companies can use AI to provide more efficient products, understand their customer base more thoroughly, make better business decisions, boost sales with helpful recommendations, and more.
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to revolutionize industries, creating entirely new systems with innovative business models, jobs, and workflows. It has the capacity to handle a vast amount of data while providing decisions quickly, gaining it the reputation of being a major factor behind the current wave of disruptive innovation.
How can ChatGPT disrupt the legal business?
ChatGPT can be used in the legal world in a number of ways, such as:
• Answering client queries: ChatGPT can answer straightforward inquiries like “What are your operating hours?” as well as more complicated ones.
• Doing due diligence: Advanced chatbots with AI can go through large quantities of documents and provide useful summaries.
• Generating and qualifying leads: ChatGPT can qualify prospects and book appointments for law firms, enabling them to bring in potential customers 24/7.
• Streamlining client intake: Chatbots are able to automate the whole process of client intake, making it simpler and faster.
• Legal search: Chatbots make it simpler and quicker to go through large amounts of conversation logs, transcripts, etc. ChatGPT can be used in the legal field in the following ways:
• Client communication: ChatGPT can handle simple questions like “What are your operating hours?” as well as more complex questions.
• Due diligence: Advanced chatbots with AI can review hundreds of documents at once and provide key summaries.
• Lead generation and qualification: ChatGPT can qualify a prospective client and set up legal consultations whenever somebody new comes in, giving law firms the power to generate leads 24/7.
• Client intake: Chatbots can automate the client intake process, making it easier and more efficient.
• Legal research: Chatbots make going through hundreds of pages of conversation records, transcripts, and more, a lot easier and faster.
The robot lawyer is coming
A ‘DoNotPay’ robot lawyer has been released in California to help people with minor traffic tickets. It was created by Stanford student Joshua Browder and does not require a real lawyer. As a lawyer, how do I feel about this?
DoNotPay is a robotic lawyer powered by AI and natural language processing that provides quality legal advice. If you enter information about your traffic violation, the program will automatically generate an appeal letter and give advice on whether or not you should go to court. Already, this robot lawyer has helped over 200,000 people contest their tickets. Its creator is optimistic that soon, it could possibly expand to immigration and eviction cases. DoNotPay is one of many technologies that are being used to provide legal resources to those without access to it. While its use in courts may take some time, its influence on the legal system is expected to be very significant.
Why AI will not replace lawyers soon
Despite the potential of AI, there are a few roadblocks that must be navigated before its capabilities can be put to use. Many legal professionals are wary of adopting new technology, and so legal professionals must think about developing a better technical understanding in order to make effective use of AI.
Apart from the technical issues, lawyers must also consider ethical implications, such as data bias and confidentiality, and the potential for misinterpretation of statements made by AI. Additionally, when working with third parties to store client data, they must take into account the increased risk of data breaches.
Ultimately, the intricate design of AI models like ChatGPT makes it hard for non-experts to comprehend the cause and effect relationships and see the advantages and possible drawbacks of utilizing them.
Trust beats AI
An effective attorney-client relationship is reliant on trust. Trust fosters honest communication, and consequently leads to more fruitful collaboration and increased profitability for the law firm. When the client has confidence in their lawyer, they are open to providing the necessary information for their legal team to build the strongest possible defense of their case.
The client-attorney relationship relies on trust to create realistic expectations. The client is aware of what to anticipate during the legal process and the duration of time for completion. When the client has faith in their attorney, they’ll have assurance that their lawyer will do whatever it takes to secure them the most positive conclusion achievable.
No matter how sophisticated robots become, they will never take the place of real lawyers. AI powered robots may assist lawyers by doing the tedious tasks of researching and writing legal documents, but when it comes to making important decisions or understanding the details of a given case, Artificial Intelligence cannot compete with the abilities of a lawyer. Robots cannot think like lawyers and cannot handle ethically difficult decisions, or interpret complicated facets of the law.
Furthermore, the relationship between a lawyer and their client must involve a human element to be successful. A lawyer can provide emotional understanding and kindness, which a robotic cannot. Establishing a connection of trust between the two parties is critical in order to produce the best legal representation.
Trust is the foundation of an attorney-client relationship, and it is essential for the best possible legal outcomes. A client needs to be able to trust their lawyer in order to feel comfortable sharing all the important information needed for a successful case. Robots will never be able to replace lawyers completely because they cannot think like a lawyer and provide the same level of understanding and support that a human lawyer can.
Conclusion
Despite the difficulties posed by ChatGPT and other AI models, they can make the legal sector more efficient and inexpensive. As AI grows in potency, it can take over the routine jobs, so lawyers can concentrate on the strategic aspects of their cases. This will make legal services more approachable and budget-friendly, as well as heightening customer delight.
In the end, although ChatGPT and AI models bring about their own issues, they also offer huge potential to transform the legal profession. With adept guidance from accomplished data scientists, attorneys can utilize these advanced AI tools to their benefit. All in all, lawyers won’t be becoming obsolete anytime soon.
