Let’s not get overoptimistic about AI and law

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I fear that The Gleaner editorial of September 16 (and, by extension, The Hon Chief Justice of Jamaica) is overoptimistic about the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) in Jamaican courts.

Generative AI, such as ChatGPT and its derivatives, is not currently a reliable tool in providing factually correct information or analysis. The case of Mata v. Avianca in the United States last year was just one example, where the attorneys for the plaintiff submitted a 10-page brief full of made-up citations created by ChatGPT.

In the Jamaican legal system, where so much precedent and procedure are not available online (generative AI are trained on the Internet), there is an even greater risk that things will just be made up. Whether or not it would allow judges to cut corners, it would not improve confidence in the justice system. Using AI in the “disposition of cases” may also be an issue under Section 12 of the Data Protection Act by which an individual has a right to ask that any decision made by automated processing of personal data be reconsidered or a new decision made based on other evidence. This would, presumably, slow down the courts, not speed them up.

ANDREW WILLIAMS

Kingston