Article: Hyper-smart AI ‘not that far away’ for lawyers

In terms of the usability of ChatGPT for legal professionals, this professor revealed that copyright and legal liability are two of the bot’s main drawbacks — but that artificial intelligence (AI) technology like this will only continue to evolve moving forward.

Patrick Fair is the principal at Patrick Fair Associates and an adjunct professor in the School of Information Technology at Deakin University.

Speaking recently on The Lawyers Weekly Show, produced in partnership with Legalwise Seminars, he spoke about ChatGPT and what it means for legal practice, as well as some of the issues and challenges around the program and the broader legal implications of such technology.

After making global headlines over the last few months, artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT are changing — and will continue to — the day-to-day operations of legal practice to some extent. You can read Lawyers Weekly’s full coverage of ChatGPT and what lawyers need to know, here.

Throughout the last 25 years, Mr Fair has been involved in the policy and public implications of the internet, both in terms of lobbying regulators and liaising with industry point of view.

“This new technology here is going to have implications right across the economy. So, I was very interested to get across it,” he said.