The Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner has provided initial comments on ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms. The comments outline what ChatGPT is and the potential benefits and risks of using a generative AI platform for lawyers in their work.
ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) that generates human-like text on various topics based on user prompts. It is one of many generative AI platforms currently being developed and trained. ChatGPT uses a conversational interface where users provide prompts, and the model generates fluent and convincing answers. It achieves this by training on vast amounts of data scraped from the internet. The model generates text based on the probability of the most likely word or combination of words to come next, derived from its training content. Different training sets can result in different suggestions for the same prompt.
The VLSB+C notes the issues around accuracy, specifically that these AI platforms are optimised for fluency rather than accuracy, as well as the opaque nature of content processing.
Additionally important for lawyers is the fact that ChatGPT offers no guarantee of confidentiality. The VLSB+C advises not to use confidential information to generate text.
However, there are also some useful tools available for lawyers, including using AI to produce social media content, generate ideas for content or articles and creating work-flows.