With the explosive rise of generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) it is becoming more common for clients to send documents created by AI to their attorney for review. At first blush this may seem like a great way to streamline processes, reduce costs, and decrease turn-around time. However, there are several considerations that need to be made before sending an AI document to your lawyer.
Perhaps the biggest reason a client would send their attorney an AI created document is the perceived cost saving benefit. Theoretically it should be less costly for a lawyer to review and edit a document than to create one from whole cloth. However, this is not always the case. When a lawyer reviews a document, they are doing more than simply fixing grammatical errors, typos, and making stylistic changes. The value of a lawyer’s review comes from analyzing the specific legal facts of an issue and applying them in a way that accomplishes the client’s goals. AI is more than capable of producing documents that look professional and official but if the facts are improperly applied, the document is worthless, or worse could result in the wrong legal result.
Another issue with AI created documents are “hallucinations.” AI is designed to generate content that sounds believably human. To do this AI can fill factual gaps with assumptions that the AI thinks sound believable, thus creating hallucinations. In complex legal documents factual assumptions can be fatal to the entire document. Because of these risks, when a lawyer is asked to review an AI created document they must meticulously review and verify every sentence. An intensive review of this nature is frequently more expensive than if a lawyer drafted the document themselves. A simple analogy for why the cost is often greater for review of an AI document is like bringing a car to a mechanic that was partially assembled by someone else. The mechanic doesn’t know where the last person left off or whether it was assembled correctly.
Another major consideration to be had before sending their lawyer an AI document is attorney-client privilege. Attorney-client privilege protects confidential communication between a client and their lawyer, but those protections cease when the communications are shared with a third-party. Depending on the AI used, many AI software developers harvest the data from every prompt entered into the AI and use that data to further train their AI. So, if a client inputs sensitive information into an AI model for the purposes of creating a document, the crucial protections of the attorney-client privilege are likely waived.
Artificial intelligence is the cutting edge of technological innovation and is becoming an increasingly valuable tool for people to use. However, when it comes to creating legal documents, people should be aware of the potential risks of its use. Namely, the counterintuitive fact that is often more expensive for a lawyer to review and edit an AI drafted document than to simply create a whole new document; and the serious risk of the attorney-client privilege being waived. Instead of sending an AI created form to your attorney, the far better approach is to explain what you are trying to accomplish, why you are trying to accomplish it, and the specific facts surrounding the issue, then let your attorney create a custom document that fits your circumstances exactly.
Ryan Futrell specializes in HOA/Community Association Law with Law Firm Carolinas in Greenville, SC. For questions about any HOA/Condo meeting issue or other matter, please contact a community association attorney at Law Firm Carolinas’ North or South Carolina offices.