6 Why is this important?
So what? As you learnt about the different ethical concerns in the previous sections of this course, hopefully you have already started to think about why it is important to be aware of these issues when using GenAI.
As well as an individual being disadvantaged due to a wrong, misleading or offensive output, law firms and organisations can also be harmed by an inappropriate use of GenAI.
Harms caused by an unethical or irresponsible use of a GenAI tool
a.
This could affect the individual user.
b.
This could affect a law firm or other organisation.
c.
This could affect both.
The correct answer is c.
Comment
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is concerned that individuals using GenAI risk relying on hallucinations or wrong information and, therefore, will not be able to get a legal remedy for their problem (Solicitors Regulation Authority, 2023). There is also the risk that court cases involving inaccurate GenAI information will take longer to resolve, which may increase the delays faced by individuals in getting a court hearing. For organisations, relying on wrong information generated by AI will damage their reputation, potentially leading to negligence claims against them and, if court proceedings are issued, allegations of misleading the court and possibly wasted cost orders to compensate the other party for the costs they have incurred.
a.
This could affect the individual user.
b.
This could affect a law firm or other organisation.
c.
This could affect both.
The correct answer is b.
Comment
This type of deepfake can damage the organisation’s reputation, and lead to a loss of clients and potentially revenue. It could also cause concern and upset amongst the employees of the organisation.
a.
This could affect the individual user.
b.
This could affect a law firm or other organisation.
c.
This could affect both.
The correct answer is b.
Comment
If this information is made public, it risks the reputation of the company and adverse comments being made by clients and employees – particularly if the company has committed to reducing its carbon footprint or it champions environmental causes.
a.
This could affect the individual user.
b.
This could affect a law firm or other organisation.
c.
This could affect both.
The correct answer is b.
Discussion
This may reflect the bias within the GenAI tool, but in using the video the organisation risks reputational damage, adverse comment and being unable to recruit diverse employees or clients.
a.
This could affect the individual user.
b.
This could affect a law firm or other organisation.
c.
This could affect both.
The correct answer is c.
Comment
Depending on the contractual terms of the LLM, if the information can form part of the training data, the adviser has potentially breached their professional responsibilities to keep their client’s information confidential. For the organisation, there may be breaches of data protection law, they may face consequences from the regulators, and there may also be a risk of a security breach. This type of scenario is more common than you might expect: a recent study of over 10,000 employees found that 15 percent of employees input company data into ChatGPT (Responsible Artificial Intelligence Organisation, 2024).
a.
This could affect the individual user.
b.
This could affect a law firm or other organisation.
c.
This could affect both.
The correct answer is a.
Comment
Where GenAI tools are only trained on information from certain groups, it can lead to unfair and unrepresentative outcomes as in this example. If the client can prove bias, they may have a case for discrimination.
a.
This could affect the individual user.
b.
This could affect a law firm or other organisation.
c.
This could affect both.
The correct answer is a.
Comment
The text in the blog appears to be copyrighted, and so there may be legal consequences of publishing it without the correct licence. This could also cause the individual reputational damage.
a.
This could affect the individual user.
b.
This could affect a law firm or other organisation.
c.
This could affect both.
The correct answer is b.
Discussion
Potentially there could be data protection concerns if the system was not secure or was not able to protect the client’s personal information. It could cause reputational damage if the tool did not work as expected, or the organisation was unable to explain how it came to its decisions. Finally, the organisation could lose clients if they did not have access to the internet due to digital poverty or exclusion, or did not trust GenAI systems.
This activity has shown that using GenAI tools without thinking of the ethical implications can lead to harm to both individuals and organisations. The next section suggests some best practices to use GenAI ethically and responsibly.
5 Environmental impact
