AI Integration In Legal Education Sparks Worry Among Experts

In the last half-decade or so, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made inroads in almost every profession and has now positioned itself as a game changer. Be it healthcare or banking, AI has strengthened its roots as an information powerhouse. It is now making its presence felt in legal educational setup as well as the profession itself. Now that AI is being extensively used as the escape from loads of paperwork and the hustle involved in the legal field, it has also forced the ecosystem to ring alarm bells.

When Justice Anoop Chitkara of Punjab and Haryana High Court used AI in a case to deny bail to an accused last year, it posed some serious questions. Are we getting too reliant on AI? Are there any ethical implications of using such technology at such higher levels?

To answer this aspect of the use of AI, Rohan Rohatagi, Partner at RSR Legal, Advocates, said, “In the US, there have been cases where proceedings have gone against the lawyers who have used what came out of ChatGPT without cross-checking. There has to be accountability and Accuracy. It is our responsibility to cross-check as ChatGPT only gives you an analysis of what’s already fed into the system.”  

Recently, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud stressed AI's power to revolutionise the country’s judicial system. With this focus on imparting AI education to the upcoming generation of lawyers, there is still a concern- The Westernisation of AI.

Pavan Duggal, a cyber law expert pointed this out. He said, “A large chunk of data that is being used for training is still not Indian data. It’s primarily Western data. So, expecting a kind of impartial viewpoint from AI is a complete no-no.”

Despite being adopted as the primary source of information by the Gen Z generation, AI still faces a sea of concerns. There has been a sense of discouragement towards the use of AI by blaming it for being a hindrance to the natural process of learning.

In counter to this criticism of AI, Pradeep Kulshrestha, Dean of the School of Law at Benett University mentioned, “It took me five years to learn how to write a mail and I learned it from my senior. Now, if a student is attempting to write a mail and is using ChatGPT, we should not be discouraging so much. He is trying to cover those five-six years.”

Deevanshu Shrivastava, Assistant Dean and Associate Professor of School of Law at G D Goenka University added to Pradeep’s arguments by stating, “This is specifically for my law students. These are just tools. Don’t let the tool become the master and the master become the tool.”