The use of generative artificial intelligence (“gAI”) using large language models (“LLMs”) has been increasing among attorneys. Attorneys use gAI to prepare briefs, research case law and review documents. This leads to overreliance on gAI which tends to be inaccurate because it predicts the words to generate an answer in response to the context provided in the prompt. It is therefore difficult to assess if the answer generated is factually true. Moreover, gAI does not tend to be up to date where it is trained on LLMs which are older. In view of the increasing reliance on gAI, on 23 September 2024, the Singapore High Court issued its Guide on the Use of gAI Tools by Court Users (“Guide”). The Guide warns court users that gAI is just a tool and the ultimate responsibility for any submission remains with the filer. The Guide keeps a natural approach to the use of gAI but specifies that Court filers should perform fact check and proof reading of any gAI generated content. That they should verify any reference to case law, legislation, textbooks, and article, using industry acceptable sources. The Guide further states the importance of respecting and protecting intellectual property (IP), including the proper use of attribution, avoiding the disclosure of confidential information and the prohibition of using documents obtained through court proceedings in any other proceedings. The Guide reserves the right for the Court to order a court user to identify if gAI was used and to verify that any use of gAI was done in compliance with the Guide. As we have seen with other courts, the Guide also notes that failure to follow the Guide may lead to sanctions against court users, including the order of costs, the court disregarding documents file, disciplinary action and or actions associated with IP enforcement. As we become more and more reliant on the use of gAI, this Guide is therefore an important signpost for court users in Singapore.
For the full guide see here.
