The Oklahoma Bar Journal August 2023

with a limited New York law-only package. As we all appreciate, the answer was to find another source for the cases. Instead, he “doubled down” and instantly became an internet meme. At the sanctions hearing, Mr. Schwartz was sworn to testify truthfully and then spent two hours being grilled by the judge. While ChatGPT made the national headlines, Mr. Schwartz could not avoid the simple fact that he cited as authority case law he had not read. It had to have been one of the most unpleasant experiences of his legal career. He noted that he had suffered great personal damage from his error. The court granted an award of sanctions for $5,000. But, no doubt, the two-hour examination was also punishment. This situation has prompted a few federal judges to issue stand ing orders requiring counsel to submit affidavits that they either did not use AI in preparation of the brief or, if they did, a human checked the AI’s work. Some have observed that any potential problem is already addressed by Rule 11. 2

CASETEXT TO COCOUNSEL TO THOMSON REUTERS Casetext has provided AI-powered legal research for some time. Their basic service is a discounted OBA member benefit. Casetext also worked with OpenAI to incorporate advanced functions of ChatGPT into a new offering. On March 1, as ABA TECHSHOW was beginning, we learned via social media that a national cable news network hosted the product launch for Casetext’s new offering, CoCounsel, an AI-powered legal research tool. Free trials were only for a short period. The results were so stun ning that many lawyers immedi ately subscribed at the rate of $500 per user per month, including many lawyers who would have said that they would not have sub scribed at that price point. Casetext gained access to ChatGPT in 2022. The result was quite a success. On June 26, it was announced that Thomson Reuters agreed to purchase Casetext for $650 million cash. 3 I hope Thomson Reuters will offer a pricing plan affordable to small firm lawyers and not just focus on larger law firm pricing.

ARE AI AND CHATGPT REALLY THAT SIGNIFICANT? The easy answer here is yes. Smart, serious people have referred to it as being as significant as the discovery of fire, the invention of movable type or the internet itself. 4 I’ve done many presentations about the future of law across the country over the years. One of the keys to future law firm success will be to automate as much as possible. Creating automated tem plates is time-consuming. AI tools will make it less so, and some have reached the market. Did I men tion that ChatGPT can also write computer code? That is scary for the programmers of the world. My prediction is the business world will be transformed by generative AI over a few years. And if corpo rate business practices change, the law businesses will also change. Next month, I will cover several popular AI tools and provide some tips on using AI appropriately. Mr. Calloway is the OBA Management Assistance Program director. Need a quick answer to a tech problem or help solving a management dilemma? Contact him at 405-416-7008, 800-522-8060 or jimc@okbar.org. It’s a free member benefit. 1. https://bit.ly/44DhEhI. 2. See “Judicial Treatment of ChatGPT: Throwing the Baby Out with the Bath?” by lawyer blogger Stephen Embry. https://bit.ly/3OaGz72. 3. See LawSites ’ blog post, “The Rumors Were True: Thomson Reuters Acquires Casetext for $650M Cash.” https://bit.ly/3JVY6xe. 4. Noted legal futurist Richard Susskind shares his thoughts about AI and the legal profession in his LinkedIn post “AI in the law - six thoughts.” https://bit.ly/470ufhd. He has studied the impact of AI on lawyers for decades, and he deems these developments very significant. Andrew M. Perlman, dean and professor of law at Suffolk University, stated, “ChatGPT suggests an imminent reimagination of how we access and create information, obtain legal and other services, and prepare people for their careers.” In “The Implications of ChatGPT for Legal Services ad Society.” https://bit.ly/44GSBKM. ENDNOTES

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL