Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada launches an investigation into ChatGPT:
ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is an artificial intelligence language model or deep machine learning model (also known as a "chatbot") created by OpenAI. It is designed to understand natural language and generate human-like responses. It assists its users by answering their questions, providing information, and engaging in human-like conversation with them on a wide variety of topics.
Since it's release in November 2022, ChatGPT is now one of the fastest growing user applications in the world. Over one hundred million users are using ChatGPT to generate code, draft papers, and generate detailed and articulate answers based on their prompts. Some use ChatGPT for legal purposes. Indeed, ChatGPT has the potential to transform the legal profession, from researching complex legal questions to drafting legal documents such as employment contracts and wills - reducing work which used to take hours to seconds.
In April 2023, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada announced that it was launching an investigation into ChatGPT:
"AI technology and its effects on privacy is a priority for my Office," Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne says. "We need to keep up with - and stay ahead of - fast-moving technological advances, and that is one of my key focus areas as Commissioner."
The investigation into OpenAI, the operator of ChatGPT, was launched in response to a complaint alleging the collection, use and disclosure of personal information without consent.
What does the introduction of ChatGPT mean for the legal profession, and what are the risks?
Benefits and Drawbacks
ChatGPT is a powerful tool which allows lawyers to experiment with generating legal documents and provide succinct answers for complex inquiries. A significant proportion of lawyers' work takes the form of writing letters, briefs, pleadings, responses, transactional documents, and so forth. Through its AI-powered technology, ChatGPT can be used to streamline these time-consuming tasks, allow lawyers to quickly digest complex information, and analyze documents quickly by accurately identifying key documents and evidence. By providing these tools, ChatGPT can be beneficial for freeing up more time for lawyers to focus on their cases.
But are the documents legally sound? Are the answers even correct? In brief, ChatGPT cannot be entirely trusted. While ChatGPT can create quick answers for legal questions and inquiries, ChatGPT cannot be trusted to truly comprehend complex legal concepts or jurisprudence. This serious limitation can lead to inaccurate or incomplete advice which presents a risk for both legal practitioners and to their clients.
In June 2023, an embarrassed lawyer from New York asked the court not to sanction him after he made arguments based upon multiple entirely imaginary legal precedents based on a conversation with ChatGPT. The case citations generated by ChatGPT which the lawyer wrote into his brief were entirely made up. These examples of fictitious case history stated confidently by ChatGPT are examples of an artificial intelligence "hallucinations."
Given this serious risk of inaccurate or entirely imaginary information, lawyers and legal professionals would be strongly cautioned to review and double check the work which ChatGPT produces. The answers and documents which ChatGPT generates will sound confident and human-like, but they are prone to error and may be pure nonsense. With time and more training, it is expected that ChatGPT will provide more comprehensive and accurate answers. But, it is also expected that ChatGPT will generate a lot of drivel.
Ethical Concerns
ChatGPT also raises ethical questions arising from using artificial intelligence to resolve client concerns. Under the Rules of Professional Conduct, lawyers have an obligation to provide competent legal services and to abide by ethical considerations including security, client privacy, and privilege through the transmission of data between the firm and ChatGPT.
Lawyers and legal professionals who dutifully provide ChatGPT with as much facts and context as possible, may be revealing and sharing confidential and privileged information and disseminating it to the servers hosting the ChatGPT model. While communication with these servers typically takes place over the internet using secure connections and protocols, data security and privacy of sensitive information cannot be guaranteed.
However, a lawyer also has the obligation to provide efficient services. Therefore, there is a question regarding how to balance as to what extent lawyers can utilize ChatGPT to provide efficient legal services. While adopting legal technologies can assist with streamlining tasks and improving performance, it is also critical for lawyers to assess and implement technology responsibly in order to meet ethical obligations and to protect client interests.
ChatGPT and Access to Justice
The use of ChatGPT has also raised questions on the use of technology in improving access to justice within the Canadian legal system. ChatGPT may one day be effective in providing general legal information that can assist with directing users towards resources to learn more about their legal claims. ChatGPT's ability to summarize complex legal topics and generate legal work products could assist numerous Canadians who are otherwise unable to access traditional legal services by providing answers for people to resolve their legal issues.
However, relying on ChatGPT for legal information poses risks as it may provide outdated or incorrect advice, and lacks the specialized expertise and judgment that a qualified legal professional can offer. The widespread and ready access to ChatGPT presents a risk that users will receive inaccurate answers as well as documents that are not based on a solid legal grounds.
Future and Conclusion
The demand for artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT is clear. These tools allow users to streamline legal processes, provide greater access to legal information, and may one day be able to provide correct answers to complex legal questions. However, there is a danger that both legal professionals and their clients in using ChatGPT without considering the accuracy and ethical considerations associated with ChatGPT. It is crucial to approach using ChatGPT with caution and to ensure that legal advice provided by both legal professionals and ChatGPT is good and to a professional standard.
The outcome of the investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner will undoubtedly reveal additional risks and possible mitigations for the use of ChatGPT in the legal profession, but there will likely be more investigations to come.
ChatGPT highlights the promise of artificial intelligence, and ushers in a new era to assist both lawyers and their clients in accessing, creating, and generating legal information to benefit the legal system.
This blog was co-authored by student-at-law, Abby Leung. It was specifically not co-authored by ChatGPT.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
