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BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) -We use AI for many things budgeting, to play our favorite song, even advice but what about legal advice?
A recent federal ruling, United States V. Heppner, has stated that AI is not covered by attorney-client privilege and could potentially be used in court as evidence.
Attorneys are already using ChatGPT messages as evidence in a murder case against a former NFL player in Tennessee.
Cody Corliss, an associate professor at the WVU College of Law, says the reasoning is that AI isn’t your attorney.
“There is an important notion of an American law called attorney-client privilege, which protects confidential communication between an attorney and his or her client, and the idea is that communication between an attorney and his or her client is protected. It’s important to realize that communication between a chatbot and a human is not communication between an attorney and their client. You’re talking to a chatbot, and a chatbot is not your attorney,” Corliss said.
He says although sometimes we may seek AI for understanding don’t mistake the platform as an entity to protect your privacy.
“We might think things are confidential, but the policies of these AI chatbots say that they’re going to use what you say or what you type to the chatbot to train future interactions with the bot. So, there should be no expectation of confidentiality at all,” Corliss said.
Corliss says according to the ruling there may be instances that your use of an AI platform could be protected if you are directed by your attorney.
“Say your attorney asks you to create a statement about what happened and you type it up on Microsoft Word. Under those circumstances, your use of Microsoft Word would be protected under attorney-client privilege. Under the same circumstance, if you were using AI to gather your thoughts at the direction of your attorney, then it would be protected. Just remember if you’re not acting pursuant to an attorney’s advice what you type into ChatGPT could be used against you in a court of law,” Corliss said.
While AI can be a quick fix, Corliss says it might not be the best confidant.
“We start seeing AI being used as therapists or for medical diagnoses and I guess it’s not so surprising that people have turned to it for legal advice. But it’s important to remember that on the other side of the screen, it’s not your friend, it’s just a computer,” Corliss said.
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