AI may not be an attorney, but your employees use it as if it were

Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed virtually every aspect of modern business. Correspondence can be drafted in a fraction of the time it used to take, and other tasks that previously required hours (if not days) of effort, such as conducting market research, planning customer pitches, and constructing business plans, now take only minutes.

But be aware: The same employees who use AI to improve the efficiency of a company’s initiatives are also using AI to help them assert claims against their employers. 

Deluge of AI-generated complaints

Over the last few years, the following familiar pattern has emerged: An employee, feeling something at work was unfair, selectively feeds information to ChatGPT, and then in a matter of moments, ChatGPT provides the employee with a road map on how to sue the employer. Whereas previously, the employee would consult with an attorney to learn (1) whether there’s a viable claim and (2) if so, how to effectively assert it, now, court dockets are filled with lengthy, convoluted, AI-generated lawsuits that cite hallucinated case law, assert nonexistent legal theories, and create ethical and practical concerns for courts, attorneys, and litigants alike.