Facilitator of the panel discussion on ‘AI and how law firms apply this in practice’, Lucien Pierce, ENS innovation’s Athandile Gebeda, and legal practitioner, Azhar Aziz-Ismail.
This third article of the Law Society of South Africa’s (LSSA) Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on 19 and 20 April 2024, focused on the panel discussion on ‘AI and how law firms apply this in practice’. Demonstrations were given by speakers including Athandile Gebeda of ENS innovation, and Nerushka Bowan, an information and communication technology lawyer and author of a Juta publication on artificial intelligence (AI). Legal practitioner, Azhar Aziz-Ismail said that AI creeps up in all aspects of one’s life. He added that there is risk and consideration that one needs to bear in mind as a legal practitioner, because legal practitioners have a responsibility to clients and the public on how this technology is used. He pointed out that legal practitioners can use AI to streamline their practice, making it more efficient, and to view law not just as a service, but also as business. Mr Aziz-Ismail said it is quite important that legal practitioners use this technology to take themselves to the next level. He added that with the kind of technology that is accessible such as Microsoft Copilot, one does not need to spend millions when investing in this type of technology. Much of the technologies one already uses can be leveraged to build and strategize a way forward, enabling one to be competitive with any other law firm.
Ms Bowan said that a common question she often receives concerns the use of generative AI by legal practitioners. She pointed out that some legal practitioners are apprehensive about using AI. She advised them not to start with court pleadings when first using AI, as it takes some time to learn what works and what does not. She said legal practitioners should rather start with something that cannot get one into trouble and risk one’s professional licence being revoked.
During the question-and-answer session, Mr Aziz-Ismail went through the question that delegates asked using a QR code that was provided. One of the questions that was asked, was what happens to the information entered into ChatGPT and does it store the information and for how long? Ms Bowan responded that the free version of ChatGPT on the terms and conditions says it may use the information one enters in its training and there is a possibility that the information can become training data and could be found in the output.
Ms Bowan added that there are four tiers of subscription and depending on the level of one’s subscription one has various privacy ability’s including one where all data stays within one’s environment and does not get tagged with the training data. She said that if legal practitioners are using ChatGPT they can find privacy preference for them.
Another question that was asked was what are the additional benefits of the paid version? Ms Bowan pointed out that if one uses the free version of ChatGPT they can use the power of the 3.5 transformer and if one uses the paid version, one is then using ChatGPT number 4. She explained that if legal practitioners are using Microsoft Copilot, they are entering the engine of ChatGPT. She pointed out the free one is the least smart one, but as one pays they will be able to access the more powerful engines and also receive other benefits such as categorising and archiving chats, and have a little bit more control over privacy. Another important aspect she mentioned was that one can built their own ChatGPT. With the free version it cannot be done, however, with the paid version one can tailor their own GPT.
To view the recording from the AGM session on AI, click here.
Kgomotso Ramotsho Cert Journ (Boston) Cert Photography (Vega) is the news reporter at De Rebus.