The Morning After: Will AI Be Your Next Lawyer?

In a new study, law professors at the University of Minnesota used the ChatGPT AI chatbot to answer graduate exams in four courses at their school. AI passed all four, but with an average grade of C+. The University of Minnesota group noted that ChatGPT is good at handling “basic legal rules” and generalizations, but stumbles when trying to point out case-specific issues.

When faced with business management questions in another study, the generator was “amazing” with simple operations management and process analysis questions, but couldn’t handle advanced process questions. He even made sixth-grade-level math mistakes—something other AI authors have struggled with.

If you’re not sure if we’re ready for robot lawyers, you’re not the only one. DoNotPay is a free AI-powered chatbot that can draft letters and fill out forms for a variety of legal matters, including parking ticket appeals. Joshua Browder, CEO of the New York startup, announced that his company’s bot will represent a defendant fighting a traffic ticket in a courtroom on February 22. However, he received numerous threats of jail time from State Bar prosecutors if he went through with his plan. DoNotPay postpones its lawsuit. Browder told NPR, “The truth is, most people can’t afford lawyers. This could have tipped the balance and allowed people to use tools like ChatGPT in the courtroom that might have helped them win cases.”

– Matt Smith

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Personal data includes the three names, addresses and dates of birth.

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