Hidden Dangers of Using ChatGPT for Legal Documents

The rise of “Generative AI” has led to the automation of various exhausting tasks, which were considered a technical novelty just a few years ago. Drafting documents for various purposes is also amongst those tasks. When we think of using Generative AI for such a task, the first tool that comes to our mind is ChatGPT. It is considered the pioneer in its domain.

Many people use it to draft textual content that is supposed to be used in multiple contexts. However, is it a safe approach to use ChatGPT to draft legal documents? The short answer is: no! There are multiple hidden dangers of using this LLM for drafting or reviewing legal documents. This post unveils those hidden dangers and suggests best practices for using it for legal documentation.

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Risks of Using ChatGPT for Legal Documentation

Since you are using an LLM for this particular purpose, the output may sound convincing to you, but it doesn’t ensure legal accuracy. Relying on ChatGPT can expose you to multiple dangers. 

A few of them are given below:

1. Hallucinations and Fabricated Citations

You need to know that the biggest limitation of generative AI is hallucination and fabrication. Since it works in the background of ChatGPT, drafted legal documents may also contain legal hallucinations and fabricated citations. This tool is not aware of the law. It just relies on training data to utter relevant words.

Its ability to fabricate words based on training data works as counter-factors because it cites fake precedents, invents fictional decrees and misinterprets existing laws. Many legal practitioners and self-represented litigants have faced sanctions leading to monetary fines and damages for filing AI-generated briefs, citing fake court cases.  

2. Failure to Ensure Relevant Jurisdiction and Nuance

You should know that laws differ significantly from place to place. They vary according to the particular municipality, state or country where a case is filed. ChatGPT lacks the in-depth knowledge of laws established across various geographical regions. It simply generalizes that narrative by blending concepts from various jurisdictions.

Any legal document that lacks particular local context is considered invalid by the concerned jury. Additionally, AI models used to train LLMs come with their own limitations, such as knowledge cut-offs or failure to take recently made legislative alterations, revocations or procedural rules. Such an issue can reflect a lack of knowledge and weaken legal standing.

3. Ruined Confidentiality and Privilege

Any legitimate legal matter thrives on strict confidentiality. Secrecy is considered the cornerstone of such matters. When you consult ChatGPT to draft legal documents, you have to share sensitive personal or business details with an AI platform that is publicly accessible. Such an issue leads to loss of attorney-client privilege.

The publicly accessible standard version of this renowned LLM leverages user-entered prompts to train its AI models. Simply put, careless use of ChatGPT to draft legal documents can unveil confidential details to other users and 3rd-parties.

4. Zero Accountability

AI tools don’t have law licenses. Any entity that doesn’t have a relevant certification can’t give advice on legal matters. ChatGPT is just an AI-driven software trained on tons of data relevant to various niches. It is not liable for malpractice.

Additionally, ChatGPT is unable to identify or evaluate tactical risks, concealed agendas or human psychology that triggers a dispute or negotiation. You can’t sue an AI tool if you end up losing millions of dollars because of a flawed contract. It is not the legal duty of AI to assist you in legal matters. The legal liability rests entirely on the user.

Best Practices of Using AI for Legal Matters

Millions of people around the world use AI-driven tools, especially ChatGPT, for various purposes. However, Generative AI is still evolving. Staying cautious while using it for any purpose is a must. The same is true for legal matters, especially drafting documents. 

Here are a couple of best practices you should follow:

1. Consider ChatGPT a Tool

Instead of relying entirely on AI, use ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas, format templates or summarize lengthy or complicated text. You should still go through the output generated by the LLM and use the cross-referencing technique to verify every fact and citation by mapping included details against legitimate, credible legal repositories.

2. Avoid Providing Client Data

While you can use an AI-driven tool to formulate templates for legal documents, you should ensure that you are not inputting client data into an LLM. Personally identifiable information or sensitive business clauses are passed on to training datasets once pasted into public AI models.

3. Go for AI Detection

Many times, you hire the services of freelancers, virtual assistants or junior staff to draft legal content or initial document outlines. It is a must for you to ensure that your hires haven’t just copy-pasted content generated from the LLM.

So, run the text through a credible ChatGPT detector to ensure that external writers have done their work honestly without passing on their task of drafting critical legal logic to a machine or AI working behind it.

The tool will accurately pinpoint AI-generated and human-written text in the underlying document. It will also measure the percentage proportion of both types of content. Doing so will help you ensure a deeper review and mitigate risks that may arise because of AI’s involvement in legal matters.

4. Run an Originality Check

The quality control process is not limited to AI detection only. You also need to run an automated plagiarism check of drafted legal documents. If AI is involved in drafting content, the LLM, which is trained on existing data, may lead to unintentional copyright infringement because it works like a blender by mixing already available information together.

The output often features chunks of text that are identical to existing proprietary documents, templates or copyrighted material available online. The use of a credible plagiarism checker enables you to accurately identify such overlaps and discover their sources. The similarity report given by the tool also measures the originality of text in percentage to help you be sure about the uniqueness of your legal documents so that you can stay safe from intellectual property disputes.

5. Consult a Professional

You should ensure legal sign-off by consulting a licensed attorney in your local jurisdiction. The consulted person should thoroughly review the document and evaluate citations, identify flaws and suggest necessary modifications before filing or signing it. This practice will help you prevent a document relevant to any legal matter from getting rendered invalid.

To Summarize

ChatGPT is just an AI-driven LLM, not a qualified attorney who can draft impeccable legal documentation. It lacks knowledge about jurisdiction and required nuance. Additionally, it will likely hallucinate and fabricate precedents. You can’t hold it accountable in case of any loss.

Given this, you should follow best practices to avoid AI involvement leading to any risk. Properly verify every detail, run AI and originality checks and finally consult a legal practitioner to ensure the validity of legal documents!