AI AND LEGAL RESEARCH: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE TRUSTING AN AI ANSWER

More people are arriving at our office with printouts from AI chatbots. They have typed their situation into a tool, received a confident answer that cites case law and legislation and want us to run with it.

We understand why. AI tools are fast, free and sound authoritative. The problem is that in a legal setting, sounding right and being right are not the same thing.

Here, we explain what goes wrong when AI is used for legal research, the real world impact we have seen on clients and how to use these tools safely if you choose to use them at all.

What is an AI hallucination?

An AI hallucination is when a tool generates information that is fluent, specific and completely false. In a legal context, hallucinations most often look like this:

• Case names that do not exist

• Real case names attached to the wrong facts or the wrong outcome

• Legislation that does not exist or exists but is not yet commenced

The output reads as if a solicitor had written it. It’s not though. The tool is predicting what a plausible answer looks like, not checking whether that answer is true.

Why AI gets case law wrong

Large language models are trained to produce text that fits a pattern. Legal citations follow a pattern: parties, year, court, citation number. An AI can produce text that looks exactly like a real citation without ever having seen a real case behind it.

Several further factors make the Irish legal context especially risky:

• Most freely available AI tools are trained mostly on US material, with some UK content. Irish case law, Irish legislation and the practice of the Irish courts are under represented.

• The Courts Service of Ireland publish to patterns that AI tools can imitate superficially without reliable access to the underlying text.

• Legislation is amended regularly. An AI trained on older material may quote a section that has been amended or repealed.

• Sentencing practice evolves through District and Circuit Court decisions that are not always reported.

 

What we have seen happen to clients

We have received instructions to act for a client who insisted he was entitled to make an application for the removal of a driving disqualification based on his own legal research.  AI generated an answer to his question that suggested he could seek the return of his licence despite the fact he was unable to make the application based on his driver history.

We have received instructions from a client who was making an important decision (to plead not guilty) based on an Irish judgment which he insisted supported his defence.  The case he referred to was a real case but the conclusion he got from AI was not the correct conclusion of the case and the case itself was not relevant to his case.

We have received panicked phone calls from clients who think they are going to receive more penalty points that they are because they have looked for the answer from AI.  AI was not able to correctly identify that, whilst the law may change as of the date of their query, the new law had not yet been commenced.

How to use AI safely, if at all

If you want to use an AI tool before or during a legal matter, we suggest the following boundaries:

• Use it to understand general concepts, not to decide on a course of action

• Treat every citation, section number and case name as unverified

• Do not assume the output reflects Irish law, even if you asked about Ireland

• Bring any output to your solicitor so it can be checked properly

What AI cannot do is read the papers in your matter, apply Irish law to your facts and take responsibility for the advice. That is what a solicitor does and that is what is regulated.

What O'Sullivan Kenny does not do

We do not use artificial intelligence to write our website content. We do not use AI to draft letters, submissions or provide advice. We do not use AI to replace the real time experience and judgement of a qualified solicitor.

Every matter we take on is read, prepared and handled by a solicitor.

Bring what you have found

If you have already run your situation through an AI tool, bring the printout or screenshot with you. It helps us understand what you have been told and to put the correct position alongside it. There is no judgement in that conversation.

Speak to a solicitor

If you are facing a criminal charge, a road traffic matter or a driving offence in Galway, Mayo or Dublin, speak to a solicitor before acting on anything you have read online. You can call O'Sullivan Kenny Solicitors or submit your claim on +353 (1) 4444 813 or submit your case to us for review.

SUBMIT YOUR CASE

O'Sullivan Kenny Solicitors is regulated by the Law Society of Ireland.

FAQ

Does O'Sullivan Kenny use AI to write legal advice?

No. Every piece of advice, correspondence and submission from this firm is prepared by a qualified solicitor. AI is not used in the provision of legal advice at O'Sullivan Kenny.

Is it safe to rely on ChatGPT or other AI tools for legal research in Ireland?

No. AI tools can produce citations and legislation that look correct but are not. Irish case law and Irish statutes are not well represented in the material these tools are trained on and outputs frequently reflect US or UK law instead.

What is an AI hallucination in a legal context?

It is a fluent, confident answer that is false. In legal matters it often takes the form of invented case names, fabricated citations or legislation quoted with the wrong section number or without reference to whether or not the law has been commenced.

Can I bring an AI-generated summary to my solicitor?

Yes. Bring it with you. A solicitor can check what is correct, what is wrong and how the real position applies to your matter.