CBA Record May-June 2023

access to Bing’s API). Everything it knows has come from information input and training by human counterparts, and it has very limited knowledge of the world after 2021. While search engines like Google index the internet and can apply bias in the way in which they do so, Chat GPT’s bias could be a built-in function of its existence. Readers likely are aware that ChatGPT is not sophisticated enough to understand the complicated ins and outs of the legal system. It has returned results about non existent cases or presented information that is outright false. Additionally, the question of how data privacy and security laws apply to ChatGPT-generated con tent is murky at best. This technology is impressive, but it’s still in its infancy. While it does hold poten tial and can be useful for law practices in limited capacities at present, the implica tions and drawbacks are worthy of serious consideration, and you need to understand the limitations before you use it. The tech industry has long operated on Mark Zuckerberg’s famous ethos of “move fast and break things.” For AI, the stakes are simply too high for that sort of thinking. In late March, Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak joined leaders in the field of AI in signing an open letter to call for a pause on training AI models more pow erful than OpenAI’s GPT-4. The letter encourages the pause in development of the technology until they can be "confi dent that their effects will be positive, and their risks will be manageable." If the tech industry is exercising caution, you prob ably should too. This is just the tip of the iceberg for ChatGPT and artificial intelligence. If you’re interested in learning more, view the on-demand recording “ChatGPT: What Lawyers Need to Know,” available on demand at Learn.ChicagoBar.org.

LPMT BITS & BYTES BY ANNE HAAG ChatGPT and the Future of AI D iscussion of ChatGPT has been everywhere since the tool was released last November by release of ChatGPT has been likened to the release of the iPhone: a moment when everyday technology and people’s rela tionship to it shifted in ways not entirely apparent at the time.

OpenAI, an artificial intelligence and research company. ChatGPT is a natu ral language processing tool powered by artificial intelligence. It allows you to have conversational interactions with a chatbot that can answer questions and help write essays, computer code, emails, and more. There is a free version, but a paid subscrip tion “Plus” option is now also available. Artificial intelligence isn’t new, and ChatGPT isn’t the first AI chatbot to be released, so what makes ChatGPT so buzzworthy? A primary facet of this is its significant growth and nearly instant pop ularity. An analysis by UBS indicated that ChatGPT had over 100 million active users within two months of its launch. This pace of growth is unprecedented. By comparison, TikTok, a similarly explo sively popular app, took nine months to reach 100 million active users. ChatGPT’s ability to answer ques tions and provide users with information is accessible and sophisticated in ways that haven’t been seen previously. More broadly, the advancement in technology represented by ChatGPT might shift the way we interact with our comput ers. Other platforms might be compelled to integrate a conversational AI compo nent, and search engines (e.g., Google) might soon feel outdated or clunky. The

Some law firms and lawyers have been quick to jump on the ChatGPT band wagon and implement the tool in their practice. It’s being touted as a great way to answer quick legal questions, bol ster research or writing, and assist in the e-discovery process. Basically, proponents argue that ChatGPT is a great way to fur ther automate time-consuming processes, offering the ever-alluring promise of saving time and money. Prominent voices in the field claim that ChatGPT can be used to generate first drafts of documents. This all may be true, and many well established legal technology platforms have been implementing AI in their prod ucts for some time. So, what do you need to consider before going this route? A significant ethical concern sur rounding ChatGPT, and any other form of artificial intelligence, is that of bias and misinformation. As with all other AI tools, the tool inherits the biases of its human creators. ChatGPT is not con nected to the internet and does not search the internet to answer the questions you input (for the most part, and potentially just for now — in late March, a small number of users were given the ability to test plug-ins, at least one of which has

How To…Exceed Client Expectations in a Virtual World May 30, 2023 | 10:30-11:30 a.m. IL PR-MCLE Credit www.learn.chicagobar.org

Anne Haag is the CBA’s Law Practice Management Advisor, a certified crisis intervention counselor, and a volunteer with Resilience as a trauma informed ER advocate for sexual assault survivors.

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