Disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence

As per the essence reflected under Legal Technique, law is but a

series of algorithms, codified instructions but not limited to proscribing

“do’s and don’ts” and “if’s and then’s. Wherein we can easily relate the

word, “computer programming” with it. However, the legal system is much

more complex. The latter is not as up-front as coding considering the

intricate state of justice today.

“The biggest limitation of artificial intelligence is it’s only as

smart as the data sets served. AI’s main limitation is that it learns from

given data. There is no other way that knowledge can be integrated,

unlike human learning. This means that any inaccuracies in the data

will be reflected in the results.”

Lawyers have the burden to process complex series of facts and

conditions, consider appropriate legal rights and obligations and provide

well-structured opinions and guidance on the best course of action based on

all of that information. One of the most sought characteristics of a lawyer is

to have the ability to understand the background of proceedings, general

familiarity of how the world works and comprehension of the law and its

application. The work of lawyers is extremely multifaceted.

Through artificial intelligence, it is possible to imitate some of the

works that a human lawyer normally does, but to completely replicate the

latter means to come up with a process that can create flexible ideas and

outcome while also providing a conclusion based from a set of legal

information and an “experience database”. It is important to note that, the

legal profession is not limited to algorithms, analogy, deduction, and others

of the same kind but rather it also relates to the application of the overall

information and experiences as human lawyers. To render legal advice, as

lawyers know, can be an extremely complex task. Hence, it will be a very

difficult task to replicate this with computers using Artificial Intelligence.

The law profession involves a lot of spontaneous sorting out of irrelevant

clatters and concentrating in on the signal. On the other hand, computers are

still limited to perform these difficult tasks.

There is no certainty as to whether Artificial Intelligence may mimic

the capacity of human lawyers or not in the long run. As years go by, it is

not impossible not to expect more improvements in the field of technology,

hence the biggest question to ask is not if Artificial intelligence can replace

lawyers, but rather, if it can be utilized as huge contributors to lawyers’

efficient finishing of the latter’s tasks. AI still has significant

underperformances. Artificial Intelligence is only as effective as the

algorithm and data behind it. Both its strength and weakness is that it does

exactly what it is programmed to do. There is still a need to program the AI

system at the beginning and supervision and review by humans of the results

produced. Failure to do so can result to negligence claims.

As per the case of J-M Manufacturing Co. v. McDermott Will &

Emery, a law firm was litigated for failing to effectively supervise, a

discovery vendor that utilized search term and keyword filters to filter

privileged documents.

“According to a complaint J-M filed in a state court in Los

Angeles, McDermott produced too much, all because it did not

thoroughly review the work of contract attorneys at e-discovery

vendor Stratify Inc. J-M claims that 3,900 privileged documents were

handed over to the federal government.”

The case serves as a reminder to not put complete faith in the AI systems

utilized.

Moreover, Artificial Intelligence lacks human reasoning to fully provide a

sound/rational result lacks personal experience, which will help a person to

apply intuitive response to existing situations. Through these things, a

human lawyer is equipped to evaluate merits and probability of triumph.

Additionally, machine in terms of translation, is more rigid and not fluent

when compared to human translations, the accuracy and suitability of

translation is more visible as to that of human translation.

Humans built the legal system in general, thus it must be noted that reliance

on Artificial Intelligence negates the positive and accurate application of the

laws. In the present, AI is a great tool that makes the work of lawyers more

efficient, but the society should be reminded that it should not be the chief

basis for decision-making with regard to the limitations of AI.

It has been mentioned in this paper that the use of Artificial

Intelligence led to more reliable and efficient outputs. Yet, there are still

gaps that are to be addressed to consider it on an equal footing as human

lawyering. Some of which are: (1) It is costly, (2) It cannot replicate

humans, (3) It needs humans to operate, (4) It lowers employment rate.

First, feeding of information to AI machines increases costs. Artificial

intelligence requires huge costs, as they are very complicated machines.

Their repair and maintenance are costly as well. They have software

programs, which need frequent upgrade to cater to the needs of the dynamic

environment and the need for the machines to be smoother and better for it

not to be left out by the latest information and updates. Most importantly, in

case of severe breakdowns, the procedure to recover misplaced codes and

restoring the system might require huge time and cost.

In general, machines lack emotions and moral value. Machines do not

have any emotions and moral values. Care or concerns are not present in the

machine intelligence dictionary. There is no human touch in the field of

artificial intelligence. They fail to distinguish between a hardworking

individual and an inefficient individual. They are no match to the power of

rational thinking that the human brain has or even the uniqueness of the

human mind. Human beings are highly sensitive and emotional individuals.
Most importantly, their thoughts are guided by their feelings, through which

machines are lacking.

They are limited by the programming imposed upon them and they

cannot be the sole judges for deciding whether something is right or wrong.

AI machines cannot improve without the presence of humans. New codes

and new training process are needed for the improvement. Their ability is

limited and bound by which they are created. They either perform

erroneously or collapse in such situations. Machines are unable to alter their

responses to changing environments.

The automation process also reduces the percentage of employed

manual labor engaged in the law industry. AI can be a great tool for

efficiency and substitute for human lawyers but its limitations just prove

otherwise. Unemployment is a socially detrimental occurrence. Replacement

of humans with machines can lead to large-scale unemployment.

Specifically, machines as substitutes for human lawyers largely degrade the

high morality of lawyers and the profession. Using robots and other AI

related machines constitute to high utilization of non-human brain, which

negates the main essence of the practice of law, which requires good and
regular standing and good moral character, which a robot definitely lacks.

Artificial intelligence augments and empowers human intelligence. But its

limitations and disadvantages uphold otherwise.

Reference:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/02/09/will-a-i-put-
lawyers-out-of-business/#437e684a31f0

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2131903/biggest-
limitation-artificial-intelligence-its-only-smart

https://legal-tech-blog.de/ai-in-law-definition-current-limitations-and-future-
potential

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law/publications/
landslide/2018-19/january-february/pros-pitfalls-artificial-intelligence-ip-
broader-legal-profession/

https://www.tech4law.co.za/business/artificial-intelligence/the-limitation-of-
artificial-intelligence-in-the-legal-industry/

https://content.wisestep.com/advantages-disadvantages-artificial-
intelligence/