How Australian law firms are (and aren't) using ChatGPT
Law firms like Clayton Utz and Ashurst are cautious about generative AI. Allens, meanwhile, worked with Microsoft to build its own proprietary AI tool.
Within weeks of OpenAI unleashing ChatGPT on the world, predictions were made about how generative AI had the capacity to replace lawyers one day. Promising new technology, it seemed, was primed to disrupt one of the world's oldest professions.
Yet in a short time, generative AI's perils for the legal community became more apparent. Most infamously, a lawyer working for New York firm Levidow, Levidow & Oberman submitted to court a document co-written by ChatGPT that was riddled with false citations. Such 'hallucinations' from ChatGPT and Google's Bard make them difficult to rely on.
Many law firms operating in Australia are intrigued by ChatGPT and its ilk but cautious of their pitfalls. In addition to chatbots citing invented cases, there are fears that confidential information, if put into a chatbot query, could end up leaking.
Capital Brief asked several large law companies operating in Australia what their policies are on lawyers using generative AI. Here's what they had to say.
