President's Message

13/07/2023

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LANGUAGE MODELS AND THE BAR

The advent and rapid evolution of AI language models, including ‘ChatGPT’, poses unique ethical and practical challenges for the legal profession. In their February 2023 article ChatGPT Heralds an Intellectual Revolution, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher explored the challenges of the “Age of Artificial Intelligence” and described generative artificial intelligence as presenting “a philosophical and practical challenge on a scale not experienced since the beginning of the Enlightenment”.

It is vital that barristers understand their duties under the Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules 2015 (Barristers Rules) and the importance of their role in the administration of justice in the context of any consideration of whether to use artificial intelligence (AI) language models, such as ChatGPT, in their legal practice, and briefs that may contain material that is the product of such use.

In order to assist the profession, the Bar Council has recently resolved to approve Guidelines on Issues arising from the use of ChatGPT and other AI Language Models in Legal Practice which may be accessed here. The Bar Council should not be taken to be encouraging such use by taking this step. The document is intended to assist barristers in understanding how their professional and ethical duties under the Barristers Rules may conflict or interact with such proposed use and to highlight limitations and difficulties that may not be immediately apparent from the models themselves.

The guidelines outline obligations that must be considered before, and not breached in the event of, use of AI language models. Importantly, AI technology can never be used as a substitute for the proper exercise of a barrister’s professional judgement in matters of law, or in ignorance of professional and ethical obligations. These include providing competent and diligent representation, maintaining independence and integrity, and maintaining the confidentiality of client information and privileged material. Barristers should also be aware of copyright and privacy issues attaching to AI language models.

It is important to note the date of currency of the guidelines in this evolving area. In the last month, for example, class action lawsuits filed in California against OpenAI, the company who has developed the ChatGPT tool, have highlighted the potential risk of breach of copyright and privacy laws posed by use of ChatGPT. The Bar Council acknowledges the importance of keeping abreast of both legal and technological developments in this area, and will endeavour to regularly review and update the guidelines.