The explosion on the scene of advanced AI chatbots opens a new path to using this technology to help more citizens achieve the access to justice they need to meet their legal needs
OpenAI’s GPT-3’s recent explosion onto the tech scene has shaken the legal industry to its core, reigniting the question of whether computers will ultimately replace lawyers. While a full-out replacement is highly unlikely, one area where GPT has tremendous potential to transform our legal system — and help millions of people in the process — is by guiding low-income individuals through their legal problems to resolution, as 92% of low-income individuals’ civil legal needs are currently inadequately or unmet.
Chatbots are basic computer programs designed to simulate a conversation with a human user and have become increasingly popular in recent years as a way to provide customer service, answer frequently asked questions, and even provide mental health support. The latest advanced chatbot, called GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer), uses advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to generate responses to user inputs in a way that is designed to be exceptionally human-like and natural.
Because the need for low-income individuals’ legal assistance greatly outweighs the number of lawyers who can assist, GPT can step in to help spot users’ legal needs, build out and maintain legal navigators, assist legal services organizations with client in-take, and make court processes and forms easier to navigate.