The image of a robot takeover once existed only in media and literature. Now, fear of robot-like machines continues to creep its way into the professional realm with the ever-innovating field of artificial intelligence (“AI”). Although the true extent of the impact of AI on the legal profession (and the overall global labor market) remains unclear, the technology already possesses a significant ability, for better or for worse, to alter existing professional norms. While writing this article, I asked ChatGPT, “What will be the impact of artificial intelligence on the practice of law?” The machine answered, “Artificial intelligence (AI) is already having a significant impact on the practice of law, and its influence is expected to continue growing in the future.” In its full response, the machine listed all major points that I sought to raise in this article about AI’s impact: automation of legal work, the increasing value of efficiency, AI as a transformative technology, and accompanying ethical concerns raised by AI systems. In effect, my conversation with the machine about the impact of the machine underscored its increasing capability to place itself directly within the legal profession.

AI describes a massive body of technology geared toward training computer systems or machines to perform tasks that ordinarily require human intelligence. (Pranshu Verma and Rachel Lerman, A Curious Person’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence, Tech May 7, 2023). Concerns over AI’s impact on the legal profession escalated with the advancement of large language models like ChatGPT. (Lee B. Ziffer, The Robots are Coming: AI Large Language Models and the Legal Profession, American Bar Association, Practice Points. Feb. 28, 2023). Large language models (“LLMs”) produce human-like
responses based on the input of massive text-based datasets. Because LLMs only become smarter and more refined with every input, weary onlookers fear that the machine will inevitably replace human intelligence.

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