How is Artificial Intelligence (AI) impacting Personal Injury Cases?

There has been a lot of chatter recently about artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on all of our lives. As personal injury attorneys, we are very interested in the promise – and the potential perils – of AI, not to mention how it might affect the legal system and perhaps benefit our clients. Before we discuss some of the possible risks and rewards of using AI in our profession, let’s take a moment to define artificial intelligence. According to experts in the field, there are several types of AI currently being developed. Here are four of the most important models (two of which have yet to be truly realized).

1. Reactive Machine AI. This type of AI takes available data and uses it to perform specific tasks. For instance, when you stream video on a premium channel like Max or Hulu, a reactive AI system notes your preferences, along with the “up votes” of countless other TV viewers, to predict which shows and movies you might like to watch next. Those titles then show up in a more-or-less-helpful list of recommendations. Other familiar forms of Reactive Machine AI include Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, though some of these systems are being upgraded to look and act more like the next form of AI, which is called Generative Artificial Intelligence.
2. Generative AI. Also known as “generative large language models,” these forms of AI, such as ChatGPT, are intended to respond to inquiries with human-like answers to complex questions. They use their vast memory capabilities and high processing speeds to accomplish these tasks quickly, though not always accurately. It’s this kind of AI that has made schoolteachers and college professors worry about lazy students passing off AI-generated essays as their own. At the same time, more and more people are using Generative AI to develop useful responses to important questions, to create imaginative images, to diagnose illnesses and recommend treatments, and to build fascinating video flights of fancy like these.
3. Theory of Mind AI. This category of artificial intelligence doesn’t yet exist, but researchers are working to achieve it. A Theory of Mind AI “entity” could hypothetically understand the thoughts and emotions of human users. By understanding what’s going on in your head, it could effectively frame its responses to your thoughts, wishes, and needs. An intriguing IBM report notes that while Theory of Mind AI (also called “Emotion AI”) is still on the horizon, when it does become a reality it could truly comprehend and appreciate the meaning of works of art or human literature, and the feelings they evoke.
4. Self-Aware AI. This is the one that has futurists and apocalyptic writers anxiously biting their fingernails. No one really knows what will happen when an artificial intelligence takes on a life of its own, with a deep understanding of its sense of self and its potential vulnerabilities. Will such an intelligence take on a helpful role in the world, assisting humanity in solving global problems and ushering in a new golden age? Or will it see human life as a threat to its own existence and attempt to wipe mankind from the face of the Earth? AI researchers on both sides of the fence agree that regardless of the outcome, Self-Aware AI has the potential to dramatically change the world.

Now that you have a quick understanding of what constitutes AI, we should address the elephant in the courtroom: Will AI replace personal injury lawyers anytime in the near future? The simple answer: Nope. First of all, we should address an urban legend that claims Open AI’s GPT-4 system passed the bar exam with a score that’s truly astounding. If you take a moment to do some research (in other words, choosing to trust your own intelligence over data provided by an AI system!), you’ll discover that while the popular generative AI tool did apparently “pass” the bar exam, its vaunted score was being compared to human test takers who had already failed the bar exam at least once. And even by passing the bar it doesn’t necessarily mean that the machine could take on all the challenging functions and fulfill the many responsibilities of a courtroom lawyer. (Imagine, for example, a computer algorithm persuasively arguing a case before a human jury!) What’s more, in one widely publicized incident, a lawyer who used ChatGPT to produce a legal brief was caught with his virtual pants down when it was revealed that the AI system had completely fabricated information he had relied upon to make his case. That’s not to say AI systems won’t play an increasingly important role in the legal field, and perhaps in personal injury law in the future. We can already imagine some possible uses we could find for AI in our daily work. For example, we could: Use AI to recommend potential legal settlements or to predict trial decisions based upon established precedents. The legal system is highly reliant on previous court decisions that were made in the past in similar cases. An AI tool that delves into limitless records of prior determinations arrived at by generations of judges and juries could dramatically simplify research and speed up pretrial negotiations and court cases alike. It could also inform our clients on the odds of successful outcomes and prospective settlement amounts in cases we decide to take to trial. Of course, as noted in the embarrassing case we mentioned above (where ChatGPT completely made up fictional legal precedents), humans would still need to carefully verify the information such an AI system could provide. Use AI to understand the many factors that might have contributed to an injury-causing incident. Accident reconstruction experts already help us determine fault and liability in a variety of cases. AI-based systems that analyze such disparate data and variables as weather conditions, traffic flow, stoplight camera imagery, driving conditions, and driver alertness (or lack thereof) could play a very helpful role in future legal casework related to personal injury law. At the same time, insurance companies might find AI tools useful in assessing risk, underwriting policies, or detecting fraudulent claims. In fact, some insurers are hoping to use AI to automate the claims process, to deal with customer interactions, and to facilitate virtual work for their employees. Only time will tell whether these strategies can be successful. Use AI to find likely witnesses and other resources such as traffic cameras or even cameras in public places where defendants might have consumed alcohol or illegal drugs near an accident scene. If you think life is starting to resemble the dystopian future depicted in George Orwell’s 1984, you may be right – but it’s just happening about 30 years later than his predictions! In 2024, we’re already using a variety of web-enabled cameras to gather essential evidence… and it’s a virtual certainty that AI tools could simplify and speed up this research process immensely in the very near future. For instance, AI facial recognition systems could help identify people present at the scene of an accident who could then be subpoenaed to provide valuable trial testimony, though some groups have raised civil rights concerns regarding such uses of AI.

Will AI affect your personal injury case?

To sum up, while there is as yet no substitute for genuine human intelligence in daily life (for example, this article was carefully written by a very real person!) there is potentially great value in using artificial intelligence tools to help real human lawyers get the best possible outcomes for our clients. We promise to stay on top of these developments in the coming months and years, so we can continue to be the largest and most successful personal injury law firm in Michigan. At the same time, we also promise to keep the human side of things in mind, since that’s why we’re really in business – to help innocent people who have been injured through no fault of their own receive just and fair competition for their very real pain and suffering. If that’s the kind of law firm you’d like to trust with your case, call us at 855-MIKE-WINS (855-645-3946). We also promise that a live, caring person – not a chatbot – will answer your call.