AI and Professional Negligence: the next challenge

In this Dekinar Conor Kennedy and Francesca O’Neill and will consider some of the most recent breakthroughs in AI technology as it might affect the practical daily lives of lawyers. 

We have not yet seen a slew of professional negligence claims arising from the use of AI, but as professionals embrace using AI tools, we will likely see them soon enough.

For example, AI can help diagnose whether a skin defect is cancerous, doctors may be as much liable for using an available AI tool wrongly, as they might be liable for not using it at all. Likewise, in a highly codified legal sphere like conveyancing, clients will be unwilling to pay for a human lawyer to spend hours preparing documents and filling out forms that could be done much more quickly by an AI with a 95% accuracy rating. But, what if the AI gets some aspect of that TA1 form wrong, and the transaction is void as a result? Or, what happens when a document on the planning portal is misconstrued by the AI with a consequence that the house being purchased cannot be demolished and rebuilt as is intended by the client? 

We do not yet have the answer to these questions, but the real question is where the line of responsibility lies between humans, corporations (i.e. law firms who mandate the use of AI) and the AI tool itself. 

Those attending will be aware of recent cases where legal professionals have misused AI for legal research which resulted in the citation of fake authorities. One such case involved a pupil barrister who cited 5 cases that did not exist. Mr Justice Johnson handed down judgment in that case, which is R (Ayinde) v London Borough of Haringey.

Conor and Francesca will set out some of the issues that will be at the forefront of human Judges’ minds when considering those sorts of claims.