Ninth Circuit Report

ANNE-MARIE DAO
Troutman Sanders LLP

It’s finally summer! I hope everyone is enjoying some well-deserved time outdoors. This Ninth Circuit Report focuses on Artificial Intelligence and its use in the legal realm, and in particular, what the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is doing to address this quickly evolving body of law/lack thereof.

AI IN THE LEGAL INDUSTRY

AI gained notoriety with lay people during the pandemic—in 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT. Two years later, law firms are using Artificial Intelligence ("AI"). In a notable incident involving the use of AI, a New York attorney faced scrutiny for utilizing AI to prepare a brief. ChatGPT filled his brief with fake legal citations and judicial opinions, and the New York attorney did not doublecheck the brief. According to a New York times article on the issue, the attorney explained "I heard about this new site, which I falsely assumed was, like, a super search engine."¹ This case highlighted ethical considerations and complexities surrounding the use of AI in the legal profession. The incident prompted discussions within the legal community about the importance of verifying Al-generated content and establishing guidelines to ensure the responsible use of technology in legal practices.