Some thoughts on the use of AI

I am currently marking student essays. Many student essays. Within a rather brief timescale. It isn’t my favourite task, but it’s necessary and important to the student, so it has to be done with care. It is increasingly clear to me that students are making use of AI to research, write and reference their written assessments. Now, I am not against the use of AI- I use it myself occasionally. It was fantastic when I needed to create a map of the world showing the locations of a number of universities for a funding application. It created an excellent image of my late Jack Russell terrier (Biggles) dressed as a World War I flying ace, flying a biplane. It can be a very useful tool for lawyers. But, if used for research, it can just make stuff up. If used for writing, it can produce what I would call ‘portentous nonsense’: narrative that sounds impressive but is repetitive and devoid of meaning. If used for referencing, it can produce inconsistent results.

Now I’m conscious of the fact that I sound like a boring old dinosaur here, but unfortunately, if you want to become a lawyer (or at least a successful lawyer), there really isn’t a substitute for graft. You need to know and understand the law and to be able to apply it. Above all, you need to check for errors before you send work out and to be able to spot AI hallucinations. Otherwise, like the junior barrister referred to the Bar Council for ‘made up’ cases cited in her skeleton argument, you are likely to find yourself in professional hot water.

Back to the legal grindstone…..