Niloy Ray, e-discovery counsel at Littler Mendelson, discusses the ethical integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal sector. Since its rise in late 2022, the legal community is grappling with using this technology responsibly. This urgency escalated after instances of AI-written briefs with errors emerged. U.S. judges are now mandating lawyers to disclose generative AI usage in court documents, and the California bar association has set new ethical guidelines for AI use. Ray, speaking at Legalweek 2024, believes that generative AI doesn’t introduce an entirely new ethical paradigm for legal professionals. Ray acknowledges generative AI’s efficiency in drafting and summarization, but warns of risks, exemplified by a defamation case in Georgia due to AI-generated inaccuracies. He emphasizes the crucial role of human oversight in verifying AI output and maintaining ethical standards. He critiques the feasibility of federal judges’ orders for detailed disclosures of AI usage in legal filings, predicting they will be replaced by ethics opinions. For 2024, Ray foresees a trend towards specialized, conversational AI interfaces in legal tech, emphasizing the need for specialized language models.
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