Mark Osler, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, spoke with WCCO Radio about the increasing use of artificial intelligence in legal advice. In the discussion, Osler and State Senator Erin Maye Quade examined how AI is being used in legal contexts and the broader implications for the legal profession as the technology continues to evolve.
From the conversation:
Vineeta Sawkar: I’m going to bring in Mark Osler from the University of St. Thomas. I think, though you know it is, it’s people understand that hiring a lawyer, it costs money, and sometimes it’s easier to just go to AI and say, all right, what do I need to do? But where do you bring up a big caution flag?
Osler: That caution flag is a mile wide. What I tell people about using AI is consider it a rumor from your unreliable friend. It might be something to go lead you to go ask other people about about something, particularly a lawyer, but the use of AI indiscriminately has become a real problem. I’ve talked to a number of federal district court judges and their clerks, and they’re just swamped with terrible pro se motions that are being written that petitions that really have no basis in the law. And one of the things that the senator mentioned that’s absolutely correct is that it just goes and it scrapes the internet and it doesn’t distinguish between jurisdictions, which is a very important thing in law. So it could be that there’s a case in Rhode Island that gives this person hope, but that doesn’t matter much in the district of Minnesota
Sawkar: Well, Professor Osler, would there be any positives? Is there a way to get a start through the use of AI and getting it going before you contact a lawyer?
Osler: Sure. And like I said, we still talk to our unreliable friend and hear their rumors, because sometimes they point us in general direction of something that’s an issue we should care about. And AI could be the same way now, sometimes it’s going to be exactly right, sometimes it’s going to be exactly wrong, but just in terms of having a general feel of what issues might be important, before you talk to someone who’s a lawyer, sure that can be worthwhile.
