Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly emerging technology that has the potential to revolutionize many professions, including legal. This blog post will answer frequently asked questions about generative AI and what legal teams should know about it. 

What is generative AI? 

Generative AI and predictive AI are two different approaches within the field of artificial intelligence. Generative AI refers to algorithms capable of creating new content, such as audio, video, and images, while predictive AI relies on labeled historical data to predict future events.

Generative AI is a type of machine learning that can generate new data by analyzing existing data. It’s a type of artificial intelligence technology that can create various types of digital content, including images, videos, audio, text, and 3D models, from user text prompts. This differs from predictive AI, which organizes, analyzes, and categorizes data. Generative AI works by using two neural networks: One generates new data, and the other evaluates whether the generated data is authentic.

How can generative AI benefit the legal profession?

Generative AI can benefit the legal profession in several ways. While it’s still too early to understand the full scope of how this technology can be used in the legal field, generative AI can help lawyers generate case documents, like legal briefs and contracts, and predict certain legal outcomes by analyzing past cases and providing insights into how similar cases were resolved. 

What are the common concerns associated with generative AI?

Major ethical concerns have cropped up with the large-scale release of popular generative AI tools to the public. Here are a few.

• Unpredictable Responses: Large language models, which generative AI is based on, have the potential to “hallucinate” or create confident-sounding but false responses.

• Lack of Regulation: With flurried excitement around generative AI, regulations have not come out slower than new advancements have. Most recently, a group of artificial intelligence experts - including Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk - called for a six-month pause on developing models to ensure adequate time to implement safety protocols. 
• Data Privacy: Generative AI, based on large language models, is trained on millions of data points scraped from the internet –  from Reddit to Wikipedia to books and beyond. This vacuuming of data from general sources leads many to fear that personal information has been taken from the internet and used in training these robust models. The unknown surrounding generative AI and its data sources have caused some companies and countries to temporarily ban these tools.
  
  

Will generative AI replace human lawyers?

Generative AI cannot replace human lawyers. While it can automate a great deal of manual, time-consuming legal tasks, it cannot replace the legal expertise and critical judgment of human lawyers. It’s taken the world by storm with its conversational tone and seemingly endless knowledge. Still, if you take a closer look at responses, you’ll see many gaps that only human reasoning and creativity can fill. Want to read more about that topic? Check out this great piece from LinkSquares Legal Engineer Eliana Lee: Should Robots Practice Law? (According to ChatGPT).  

How can legal teams prepare for the impact of generative AI? 

As with any emerging technology, legal teams must stay informed about the latest developments in generative AI. While the technology has tremendous potential to streamline tasks and increase efficiency, it also raises legal and ethical concerns. For example, there are questions about intellectual property and ownership rights when it comes to generative AI-generated content.

Generative AI is an exciting new technology that has the potential to revolutionize the legal profession and many other industries. By staying informed and up-to-date on the latest developments, legal teams can determine how best to leverage this technology to achieve their goals.

Takeaways

Legal teams must stay up-to-date about AI technology and its potential uses, ensure that the data used to train the AI is diverse and unbiased, and develop a plan to address ethical concerns as they arise. By doing so, legal teams can responsibly harness the power of generative AI to enhance their practice while upholding the ethical standards of the legal profession.