Visit In-House Ops to subscribe to the weekly newsletter and receive information that is key to career development, law department administration, procurement of legal services and in-house legal technology.
AI Journey Gathers Steam
Olga V. Mack, VP at LexisNexis, ruminates on our collective AI journey, confronting lawyers head on with the difficulties ahead. “Even though the developers of AI can’t always accurately predict its capabilities,” she writes, “ABA Resolution 112 requires that lawyers address AI-related ethical and legal issues and know when the risks of using AI outweigh the benefits. Much is in flux, and much more remains to be discovered.” She frets about unintended consequences trailing in the wake of rising AI adoption. To identify and mitigate the potential adverse effects of AI, your AI conversation will likely include a diverse cast from legal ops pros to regulators to outside counsel and clients.
CHATGPT Will Disrupt
ABA Journal legal affairs writer Matt Reynolds says ChatGPT will do many things – help with research, assist with drafting contracts, briefs and pleadings – but it will not steal lawyer jobs. “While ChatGPT can automate certain tasks . . . it cannot replace the expertise and experience of a skilled lawyer,” says Reynolds, who quotes Suffolk Law School’s flesh-and-blood dean, Andrew Perlman, who has used ChatGPT to help with legal writing. “We’re not there yet,” he says, “but it’s pretty clear it’s coming very soon, and it’s going to have a disruptive impact on the way we go about our work.”
All Aboard the AI Express
AI tools such as ChatGPT are giving in-house counsel the willies as they fret over protecting trade secrets and privileged information. Facing an avalanche of AI apps, it’s tempting to block them all, but that would mean blocking access to the Internet. Not likely. Here’s an alternative: A corporate counsel AI taskforce should proactively recommend or adopt new tools geared to a systems-level approach for improving efficiencies on their work product – before C-suite executives forge a company-wide modernization without participation or buy-in from the legal department. “It’s better to be on the train than run over by it.”
CLOs Need a Seat
Two leaders with the Association of Corporate Counsel teamed on this piece to hammer away at a key ABA theme: All GCs/CLOs must have a seat at the table. The absence of the CLO’s voice works against the best interest of investors and other stakeholders, they say, noting that the best way to make that happen is by having them report to the CEO. Boards, institutional investors, CEOs, regulators, and the judiciary should support this as a matter of corporate governance, which sets the right "tone from the top" on corporate culture.
Safe AI Takes Work
Open AI, developers of ChatGPT, released a safety guide of sorts. Clearly designed to soothe a fretful public, OpenAI emphasizes its commitment to keeping AI safe and beneficial. However, Open AI has caveats based on the limits of what they can and can’t do in a lab setting, including predicting how people will abuse AI tools. “That’s why we believe that learning from real-world use is a critical component of creating and releasing increasingly safe AI systems over time,” OpenAI says.
Intelligence x 4
Stephen Abram, executive director of the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries, blogs about the differences between AI and AGI, starting with psychologists’ four types of intelligence: Intelligence Quotient (IQ) - measure of IQ needed to solve math, memorize, and recall lessons; Emotional Quotient (EQ) – the measure needed to maintain peace with others, be responsible, honest and respect boundaries; Social Quotient (SQ) is the measure of ability to build a network of friends and maintain it for a long time; and Adversity Quotient (AQ), which is a kind of going-gets-tough measure. It requires all four types of intelligence to become a multifaceted, independent leader.
Published July 28, 2023.
