Good Starting Point for Legal Research and Writing?
Good Starting Point
Although generative AI systems like ChatGPT cannot be trusted to be totally accurate, they are valuable tools for law students and lawyers despite their limitations.
Generative AI systems like ChatGPT can serve as a starting point for legal research, comparable to other secondary sources used for this purpose.
The text generated by generative AI systems like ChatGPT is based on the same documents used by human authors, such as:
Legal treatises
Judicial opinions
Briefs
Sample motions
Contracts
Helpful Despite Hallucinations
Generative AI systems like ChatGPT have impressed many legal commentators with their ability to answer law school and bar exam questions, despite the fact that their responses may contain hallucinated facts, statutory citations, and case names.
Generative AI systems like ChatGPT's performance demonstrates that they can:
Understand a fact pattern
Explain relevant statutes and cases
Apply the law to the facts
However, they may not always provide accurate citations, and further research may be necessary.
Similar to People
Law students and lawyers can also apply the law to facts without always accurately recalling specific citations and case names.
This limitation is not unlike the limitations of human beings.
Strengths and Weaknesses
It is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of generative AI systems like ChatGPT, like any other technology.
When considering the abilities of generative AI systems like ChatGPT, it is essential to recognize that law students and lawyers can also explain vast amounts of law and apply it to facts without being able to accurately recall specific citations and case names.
What Does Chat GPT Have to Say About Its Limitations?
And here is what is has to say about its limitations.
