Over recent years, AI has become a feature of our day-to-day lives; internet searches now produce an AI summary, before any other results. But the question is, how accurate or useful is an AI summary, and could it do us more harm than good?
AI can improve the efficiency of certain processes. It can perform actions we may not have the skills or knowledge to accomplish ourselves. Whilst there are undeniable benefits to this technology, it is important to remember that, where we cannot perform a task without AI, we may also be unable to identify mistakes AI has made.
When it comes to the law it can be particularly risky to rely upon the results of an internet search and quick answers generated through AI.
What is AI and how does it work?
In simple terms, AI is a tool which can be used to answer questions, or perform requests, concerning many different subjects or areas. This tool is made up of two parts:
- a large collection of information – you could call this a ‘database’; and
- a type of computer programming which is good at identifying patterns and similarities – you could call this an ‘engine’.
When put together, the engine can find patterns in the database very quickly – much quicker than any human. Once the engine has found those patterns, it can use them to predict answers to questions or respond to requests.
Why AI isn’t reliable for legal queries
In short, the law is too varied and inconsistent, which leads to AI making mistakes.
Variation and inconsistency in the law
The law is a particularly detailed subject, which covers many differing areas. To make matters more complicated, the law evolves constantly; new laws are made, old laws are abolished, and existing laws can be reinterpreted (changing the effect those laws might have).
The process of creation, removal and reinterpretation occurs not only in development of the law, but also in procedures that must be followed. Taking the area of tax law, as an example:
- The rates of tax payable on income often move up and down – ie the law itself changes.
- Historically all income tax returns had to be submitted on paper, and many can now be submitted online – ie the procedure for reporting on tax has changed.
To add even more confusion, changes in the law do not always apply ‘across the board’, even within a specific area. For example:
- income tax rates might rise, whilst corporation tax rates or inheritance tax rates stay the same; and
- some types of HMRC tax forms can be completed online with an electronic signature, whilst others must still be submitted as a paper form, signed with a wet signature, and sent through the post.
In other words, both the law, and any associated procedures, are often inconsistent with one another, even within their specific area.
AI makes mistakes, when it comes to law
Inconsistencies cause great difficulty for AI tools. AI works by identifying patterns, which are then used to establish the rules that apply to particular topics or situations. Inconsistences are exceptions to rules, and the law is filled with them. Therefore, the difficulty in using AI to answer legal questions is that the many inconsistencies that arise across the law and related procedures, often result in an AI engine misleading itself (by applying a pattern to an area that does not follow that pattern), and producing an answer that is incorrect or unreliable.
How AI errors can put you at risk
It is easy to rely upon an inaccurate answer given by AI, not realising that AI has made a mistake. If you decide how to approach a legal issue, based upon a mistaken answer, there could be negative consequences. Some examples of possible negative consequences are:
- financial cost to you;
- loss of opportunities that you could have benefited from but were unaware of; and/or
- you acting illegally or unlawfully without realising, and without having intended to do so.
What does a solicitor do, that AI cannot?
In addition to being able to successfully navigate inconsistencies in the law, there are many other things that qualified lawyers can do, that AI cannot. A few examples are:
Expertise & specialism - Qualified lawyers train to understand and advise upon the law in general, and to focus on a single specialism. In other words, they have a general working knowledge of the whole subject, as well as expertise in a particular area of that subject. By comparison, publicly available AI tools, such as those connected to internet search engines, are designed to have broad general knowledge only, they do not specialise and cannot provide expert guidance on the law
Self-awareness and self-sufficiency - AI will usually fail to recognise that key information is missing and cannot access anything outside of its database. Solicitors and other qualified lawyers can identify gaps in their knowledge and can seek out information needed to establish an accurate answer.
Access to industry specific sources - The resources used by solicitors are expertly written, and are updated as both law and procedures evolve, ensuring knowledge is kept up to date. These sources are not publicly available; law firms pay large sums each year to access them. Due to the ongoing costs, AI databases are unlikely to include these expert legal resources, meaning the AI engine cannot access the information best suited to establishing an accurate answer to a legal query.
Up to date information - Most AI tools are not working with up-to-date information. For example, at the time of writing (January 2026) ChatGPT uses data which is over two years old (from October 2023). Solicitors and other qualified regulated lawyers are required to update and maintain their knowledge and training on an ongoing basis. This means a solicitor will always be advising upon and referring to the most recent laws and procedures, a guarantee that does not exist with AI.
Conclusion
If you have a legal problem that you need to deal with, an internet search and AI can be useful in getting you started. AI can help by quickly scanning through the large amount of online publicly available information to give you an overview of the situation – but you should not assume that all results of your search are accurate or correct. In other words, an online search and AI can point you in the right direction, but you could be putting yourself at risk by trying to find all the answers yourself, without consulting a professional, qualified and regulated expert.
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