INTRODUCTION
AI is a branch of computer science that focuses on the development of machines that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. These AI machines are designed to simulate human intelligence and are trained to perform specific tasks by processing vast amounts of data and identifying patterns and insights.
Tech industry leaders believe the new AI systems could be as important as the introduction of the web browser and could lead to breakthroughs in critical areas such as drug research. AI has recently been incorporated into a wide range of industries including healthcare, finance, transportation, education and most recently, the legal sector.

AI IN THE LEGAL INDUSTRY
The use of AI in the legal industry is growing rapidly and transforming how lawyers work. AI is being used to automate routine tasks such as reviewing legal documents and analysing contracts saving lawyers significant time and enabling them to focus on more strategic and complex tasks. AI has also been used to assist in legal research by providing access to vast amounts of legal information and precedents, which helps lawyers make more informed decisions.
It has been noted that we are on the precipice of a fundamental shift in the legal sector as AI is poised to displace lawyers and make inroads on the profession’s monopoly. There are prevalent claims and predictions surrounding new AI technologies such as OpenAI’s chatbot Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) including that they are triggering a measured but imminent displacement of lawyers.
When ChatGPT was released by OpenAI late 2022, it brought with it excitement, fear, curiosity and debate that has only grown as rival tech companies such as Alphabet, Amazon and Meta have accelerated their efforts to release their own AI applications in what has come to be known as an AI race.
The idea behing chatbots such as ChatGPT is to train them by going through voluminous internet texts repeatedly guessing the next few letters and then grading themselves against the real thing. Law has been identified as one of the most at-risk professions due to the A.I advancements majorly because A.I can deduce, evaluate and generate written text instantly which is essentially most of the work that lawyers do.
A recent study titled “How will Language Modelers like ChatGPT Affect Occupations and Industries?” by researchers Ed Felten of Princeton University, Manav Raj of University of Pennsylvania and Robert Seamans of New York University has concluded that the industry most exposed to the advancements in A.I. was the legal sector while another study titled “The Potentially Large Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth” by Goldman Sachs predicts that about 40% of the tasks in the legal arena could be automated.

JUDICIAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE USE OF AI IN LAW
In the United States, courts have recognized the value of AI in speeding up the process of reviewing large volumes of documents and data. For instance, in Moore v. Publicis Groupe, the court approved the use of predictive coding, an AI technique for e-discovery, and held that it was an acceptable method for identifying relevant documents in a case.
In Colombia, as Judge Juan Manuel Padilla Garcia was issuing judgement in a suit on the rights of minors diagnosed with autism concerning payments for their treatment. He noted that he had used ChatGPT to assist him in the suit. He emphasized that “the purpose of using AI is in no way to replace the judges’ decision. What we seek is to optimise the time spent writing judgments.”
These cases demonstrate that judicial attitude is increasingly being receptive to the potential benefits of AI in legal contexts and are open to its use where it can improve the efficiency of legal processes.

THE FUTURE OF AI IN LEGAL PRACTICE
It is trite that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly accelerated the adoption of technology across many sectors and highlighted the potential benefits of using technology in improving efficiency and reducing costs. As AI becomes more advanced and reliable, it will very likely be integrated into legal workflows and be used for reviewing legal documents, legal research, contract analysis, writing legal scriptures, analyse large volumes of legal data and identify patterns and trends and automation of rote legal tasks.
However, the adoption of A.I in the legal industry will also depend on a number of factors, including regulatory frameworks, ethical considerations and socio-cultural attitudes towards the technology. As such, it is likely that the adoption of A.I in the legal industry will vary across different regions and legal jurisdictions, depending on local factors such as legal traditions, market forces, technological infrastructure and regulatory frameworks.

RISKS OF ADVANCEMENTS IN AI
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has stated that regulators and the society need to be more involved with emerging technology to guard against potential negative consequences for humanity. Altman in interviews has stated that “We’ve got to be careful here, I think people should be happy that we
are a little bit scared of this. I’m particularly worried that these models could be used for large-scale disinformation and offensive cyber- attacks,”
Altman also notes that Chatbots at the moment uses deductive reasoning and can lead to entirely made-up responses such as fake legal citations meaning there is risk of massive disinformation and one will not be able to know what is true from what is false. Recently, Steven A. Schwartz of the law firm Levidow, Levidow & Oberman decided to use ChatGPT to do his legal research in a suit where he was representing a man named Roberto Mata against Avianca airlines claiming he was injured when a metal serving cart struck his knee during a flight to New York. Steven and his firm submitted a legal brief that cited numerous court cases which the presiding Judge and opposing counsels could not trace. This was all because ChatGPT had made them up.
When questioned to provide the full citation, Steven and his firm in an affidavit stated that they had used ChatGPT in writing the brief and were unaware of its unreliability given the fact that they had not used it before. The presiding judge sternly rebuked the lawyers and imposed a 5,000 USD fine and also ordered them to send a copy of his opinion to each of the real-life judges whose names appeared in the fictitious filing. Elsewhere, Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman notes that although AI has its flaws, human reasoning is also flawed. He goes on to note that in the end of it all, AI is going to win and how humans adjust is a problem that needs reflection on. The fact that there is currently no regulatory oversight of AI is a major concern. Dubbed “the Godfather of AI”, Dr. Geoffrey Hinton believes that tech giants need to be subjected to regulation before their race escalate to an irreversible and catastrophic global race. In March 2023, more than 1,000 technology leaders including Tesla CEO Elon Musk signed an open letter calling for a moratorium on the Advances of AI systems because according to them, AI and the advances being made therein pose profound risks to society and humanity.
CONCLUSION As AI continues to develop and evolve, it is clear that its role in the legal industry will only grow. The future of AI in the law will require collaboration between lawyers, tech leaders and policymakers to ensure that its adoption is guided by ethical principles and subject to appropriate oversight and accountability measures. With the right balance of innovation and regulation, AI has the potential to transform the law and legal industry making it more efficient, accessible and equitable for all but how much the legal profession will change, and how soon, remains uncertain.
Some observers believe that we are heading to an event called the singularity, which is where AI becomes too clever and autonomous for our own good. On the other hand, others believe that singularity already happened and we are living in a computer simulation In introspect, we do agree with Elon Musk and the other over 1000 global technology leaders who issued the open letter calling for a pause in AI Advancements that, “Powerful A.I. systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.” What we need to have is a coordinated and global response geared towards formulation of well thought AI regulatory framework because there is a high possibility that by time we see the downside of unregulated AI, the damage – just as has been experienced with social media – will have been done.

Authored by:

Benson .M. Muringo.
Nkatha Kithinji.
June Nicole.