ChatGPT- Lawyer of the Future?
By Joshua Hall
We have all seen (or should have by now) “I, ROBOT” (one of Will Smith’s best movies). Back in 2004, the idea of AI-powered technology capable of formulating sophisticated arguments was nothing more than science fiction. In 2023, however, we are moving closer and closer to this becoming a reality. In November of 2022, Open AI’s ChatGPT was released. ChatGPT is a conversational generative AI model that can create human-like responses based on patterns learned from large data sets. ChatGPT is a game changer compared to previous AI technology like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant[1]. These less advanced virtual assistant AI systems can only perform a specific task. However, ChatGPT is a text-based AI that can answer advanced questions, hold conversations with the user, write a custom paper request (with citations), and many more custom-prompted tasks[2].
Even though ChatGPT has only been released for two months, people are already trying to see its capabilities within the legal community. Min Chin, a Vice President for the legal research company LexisNexis has asked her team to test ChatGPT out with legal research[3]. Chin had this to say about what her team has found so far, “ChatGPT gives sensible answers that are very impressive,” but “I am afraid it’s not reliable enough as a decision-making tool for serious legal research”[4]. ChatGPT may be very advanced, but the AI still needs some time before it can be deemed the new go-to legal research tool.
While ChatGPT might not be ready for legal research, it might be ready to take on Law School. According to professors at the University of Minnesota School of Law, ChatGPT is passing some Law School final exams with an average grade of C+[5]. A few professors at the University Minnesota School of Law had ChatGPT generate answers to their final exams this past semester and graded them randomly alongside the human student answers[6]. The AI program earned an average grade of a C+ on the exams, and if this data were applied to a full 3-year legal program, ChatGPT would graduate Law School[7]. University Minnesota School of Law professor Johnathan Choi said, “alone, ChatGPT would be a pretty mediocre law student,” Choi then went on to say, “the greatest strength of ChatGPT right now is a lawyer could use ChatGPT to produce a rough first draft and just make their practice that much more effective,”[8].
While ChatGPT might be able to take on law school exams, the AI is currently not outperforming human law school students[9]. For a program that was only released two months ago, ChatGPT is making waves in the legal community. ChatGPT might not be the best legal researcher or the top law student, but it can’t be denied that AI is producing some ground-shaking results for two months of use. As Professor Choi says, “ChatGPT’s greatest strength is assisting current lawyers”[10]. Maybe ten years from now, a ChatGPT-powered bot lawyer will be able to sit in a courtroom in front of a judge with its own legal research and motions. If ChatGPT gets too smart, Will Smith might have to suit up one more time.
[1] Jonathan Vanian, Why tech insiders are so excited about ChatGPT, a chatbot that answers questions and writes essays, CNBC (Jan. 28, 2023, 12:18 PM), https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/13/chatgpt-is-a-new-ai-chatbot-that-can-answer-questions-and-write-essays.html.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Karen Sloan, ChatGPT passes law school exams despite ‘mediocre’ performance, Reuters (Jan. 28, 2023, 12:21 PM) https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/chatgpt-passes-law-school-exams-despite-mediocre-performance-2023-01-25/.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Sloan, supra note 5.
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