Court Directives On Generative AI: Recent Attempts At Balancing Concerns With Ethical Duties And Effective Representation

Court Directives on Generative AI: Recent Attempts at Balancing Concerns with Ethical Duties and Effective Representation

Amidst the ongoing hubbub of the impact of ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence ("GenAI") for the legal profession, Courts and regulators are beginning to react. Several Courts, including the Manitoba Court of King's Bench, have now enacted directives regarding the use of GenAI in written Court materials.

The impact of GenAI for lawyers is a subject of increasing discussion. Recent stories have received particular notoriety and have seemingly catapulted that discussion out of the legal profession and into the general public's awareness. In particular, the story of Mr. Schwartz and Mr. LoDuca's ill-fated use of ChatGPT for a legal filing in New York Federal Court made international headlines when the GenAI tool cited and generated non-existent cases.