CBA Record July-August 2023

CBA RECORD

EDITOR’S BRIEFCASE BY JUSTICE MICHAEL B. HYMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Justice Michael B. Hyman Illinois Appellate Court

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anne Ellis Proactive Worldwide, Inc.

The Chatbot and Me

T he May/June 2023 CBA Record featured one article and three columns on artificial intelligence, an enfant terrible destined to transform our professional and personal lives like nothing the world has ever seen. Artificial intelligence, especially chat bots, menaces the administration of justice, the rule of law, civil liberties, privacy, safety, security, and just about everything we do and know. So, I decided to see what all the chatter was about. I selected a subject I know like the back of my hand — me. Within a couple sec onds, the chatbot launched a short biographical sketch supposedly of Justice Michael B. Hyman. It got my name and position correct, both provided in my query. Beyond that, though, most of the information was inaccurate, false, or misleading. Under “Early Life and Education,” for example, I was told that I had “spent my for mative years in the city in Chicago,” my birthplace. Both untrue. That at a young age, I “exhibited a keen interest in law and justice.” Also untrue. That I did my undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois and received my J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Both are untrue. According to the chatbot, I began my legal career as a law clerk for the Illinois Appel late Court. No, I started out as an Assistant Illinois Attorney General. Yet, “this experi ence provided him with valuable insights into the intricacies of appellate litigation and sharpened his legal acumen.” Probably, if it had happened. Also, where did the chatbot come up with my having “served as an adjunct professor at several law schools in the Chicago area”? Proof that chatbots hallucinate. Regarding my judicial career, no mention was made of my six-and-a-half years as a Circuit Court judge. As unsettling, the chatbot described three “notable decisions” it claimed I authored. Two cases do not exist, and the third, I was on the panel. The section titled “Notable Achievements and Contributions” contained generalities, no specifics. This is understandable since the wiseacre researched my background in two seconds. The one redeeming part of the narrative was the conclusion. The chatbot did not hold back, going uber-fawning. It recounted my “remarkable journey” to “a distinguished jurist on the Illinois Appellate Court” as “a testament to an unwavering dedication to justice.” Strike up “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” But there is more, “His legacy will undoubtedly inspire future generations of legal professionals and stand as a testament to the power of justice and integrity in our soci ety.” Besides repeating “testament,” I wish I could say that this humbled me beyond words, except these laudatory comments come from a heartless, soulless, mindless (in the human sense) mother-of-all calculating machines. Given that the legal system relies on fact and truth, chatbots currently represent an unreliable resource for accurate, up-to-date research and analysis. (And biography.) Nonetheless, artificial intelligence has been unleashed. Breakthroughs arrive not in years but in months. Indeed, a former Google executive believes that in about 25 years, AI will be a billion times as intelligent as humans. Even if the proportion is 10 million, the effect will be earth-shaking. We have choices: fear it, fight it, face it, embrace it, or control it. Which option do you choose?

SUMMARY JUDGMENTS EDITOR Daniel A. Cotter Howard and Howard Attorneys PLLC YLS JOURNAL EDITORS Jacob B. Berger Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Nikki Marcotte Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Carolyn Amadon Samuel, Son & Co. Daniel J. Berkowitz Aronberg Goldgehn Amy Cook Amy Cook Law LLC Nina Fain Janet Sugerman Schirn Family Trust Anthony F. Fata Kirby McInerney LLP Clifford Gately Quarles & Brady Judge Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez Circuit Court of Cook County Kaitlin King Hart David Carson LLP Theodore Kontopoulos Internal Revenue Service Lynn Semptimphelter Kopon Kopon LLC John Levin Kathryn C. Liss DePaul University College of Law Bonnie McGrath Law Office of Bonnie McGrath Clare McMahon Clifford Law Offices Kathleen Dillon Narko Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Alexander Passo Latimer LeVay Fyock LLC Adam J. Sheppard Sheppard Law Firm, PC Richard Lee Stavins Robbins DiMonte, Ltd. Rosemary Simota Thompson Hoffenberg & Block LLC Pamela Sakowicz Menaker

Judge E. Kenneth Wright, Jr. Circuit Court of Cook County

THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION Sharon Nolan Director of Marketing

4 July/August 2023