Joe Patrice , Above The Law; Google’s AI Summary Invents State Ethics Rules… And It’s Not A Hallucination Problem
"If you’re a Pennsylvania lawyer wondering whether you need to disclose AI use in your court filings, Google’s AI summary has an authoritative answer for you. It’s a wrong answer, mind you. But authoritative!...
If one opens an incognito window and searches Google for “Pennsylvania AI disclosure lawyers,” the AI-generated summary will explain that “Key developments include mandatory disclosure of Generative AI (GAI) in court filings.” Throw in “August 2024” because you vaguely remember seeing something about AI on that date and the result reads “As of August 2024, Pennsylvania mandates explicit disclosure of AI use in all court submissions, making transparency a mandatory filing requirement.”
None of that is true.
The Legal AI Governance tracker, an invaluable tool maintained by Brian Alenduff of Desired Path Consulting, provides a comprehensive rundown of Pennsylvania’s AI rules. There are standing orders in some courtrooms, and the state supreme court issued a rule governing court personnel only, but as for the state of Pennsylvania writ large, there is no statewide rule as of now. The tracker notes that what Pennsylvania does have is Joint Formal Opinion 2024-200, a 2024 advisory ethics opinion from the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Philadelphia Bar Association flagging AI as a competence issue under existing rules. But that opinion explicitly states that it is “advisory only and is not binding.” The ABA’s own 50-state survey classifies Pennsylvania as “court dependent.”...
Hallucinations are all the rage right now, but over the long haul the greater AI risk will be an unfailingly credulous bot elevating and validating mistakes until the error gets picked up as reality."
