Above the Law – Stephen Embry – And It May All Be Discoverable: It’s incumbent on all of us to do all we can to make ordinary people aware of the dangers. The jury is still out on how much and how soon GenAI will impact the legal profession, as I pointed out in a recent article. But one thing is certain: GenAI is affecting what people are revealing, the questions they’re asking, and what advice they’re receiving. The implications for lawyers, or perhaps more accurately, their clients, are downright scary. People are talking too much and getting wrong advice that’s memorialized for future use and discovery I had sounded this alarm before. And now a recent Washington Post analysis of some 47,000 ChatGPT conversations validates many of these concerns in alarming ways. The Post Analysis = Here’s what the Post found:
- While most people are using the tool to get specific information, more than 1 in 10 use it for more abstract discussions.
- Most people use the tool not for work but for very personal uses.
- Emotional conversations were common, and people are sharing personal information about their lives.
- The way ChatGPT is designed encourages intimacy, and the sharing of personal things. It has been found that techniques that make the tool seem more helpful and engaging also make the tool more likely to say what the user wants to hear.
- About 10% of the chats analyzed show people talking about emotions. OpenAI estimated that about 1 million people show signs of becoming emotionally reliant on it.
- People are sharing personally identifiable information, their mental issues, and medical information.
- People are asking the chat to prepare letters and drafts of all sorts of stuff.
- ChatGPT begins its responses with yes or correct more than 10 times as often as it starts with no…”
