I’ve been presenting on generative artificial intelligence (AI) for many years now, predicting its powerful effect on the legal, accounting, and medical professions.  But ChatGPT4 has become a total game-changer. It took our previous understanding of big data and machine learning and turned it on its head. Even the leading AI experts were shocked by how quickly ChatGPT advanced the state of the art.

ChatGPT4 will be more disruptive than the PC! I think ChatGPT4 will prove to be more disruptive to law, business, and the professions than the introduction of the personal computer and the Internet. And a year ago, I couldn’t imagine that anything possibly could be. It’s simply miraculous. 

I’ve been presenting a LOT of ChatGPT and AI programs at law and accounting firm retreats lately. It’s today’s hottest topic.

Imagine you’re a lawyer at a firm retreat, and saw me do this:

I was sitting in the lobby waiting for my turn to speak, I conducted a simple Google search and found and downloaded a random Complaint from a lawsuit pending in Alaska state court.  It was a complex business dispute with many different counts and 50 numbered paragraphs of information and allegations.

When it was my turn to present, live on screen, in front of the lawyers, with a few keystrokes I copied the entire Complaint, and pasted it into ChatGPT. Then, with a deft Prompt, while they watched. . .

I drafted a credible Motion to Dismiss… in 20 seconds.

It cited the applicable rules and provided citations to (presumably) relevant cases for every point and proposition, and references to the local rules.

It looked great. It sounded exactly like a skilled litigator drafted it; I’d challenge you to tell the difference with a quick reading. The lawyers would have spent perhaps a week or more drafting an equally thorough motion. And. . .

They’d have charged tens of thousands of dollars for it.

The motion probably wasn’t perfect, but it was unquestionably darn good. It looked like it might need some tweaking around the edges, but certainly not an overhaul.

It cited (seemingly) relevant state law cases for each proposition using standard Blue Book structure. It was even formatted correctly and attractively, including the case caption and signature line. It looked ready to file with a court.

The lawyers’ jaws dropped.

It led to a fascinating discussion. I challenged them to consider how they’d bill for that motion. Can firms still justify spending five days writing a motion if with ChatGPT you can get a credible first draft so quickly that it’ll only take a day of validating and tweaking to finish it?

What happens to those lost hours? Should they start offering flat fees for certain documents? What would they tell the client? How soon will insurance companies start insisting that firms use ChatGPT for the first draft. We predicted how the conversations would go with their insurance company clients.

If you’re interested, the entire presentation should qualify for Ethics CLE credit, and includes topics like:

• Data Overload
• We All Have Biases
• The Law and AI
• Using AI to Draft Legal Documents
• ChatGPT4 Tips and Tricks
• Drafting an Effective Prompt
• Ethics and AI
• The Future

Things are changing fast; we all need to work to stay current. Please let me know if you’d like a presentation for your own professionals!