Back in the 1950s, American children were treated to 130 episodes of Felix the Cat cartoons. Originally a comic strip, the stories migrated to a fun (and badly) animated episodic-cartoon TV series, featuring many of the strip’s famous characters. Any kid in America could name them: “Felix”- the wide-eyed cat, the “Professor,” (a mad scientist who constantly tried to steal Felix’s Magic Bag of Tricks), and “Poindexter”- the Professor’s nerdy bespectacled nephew who always wore a mortarboard on his head to tout his intelligence.
However, the true villain was “Master Cylinder,” a robot whose aim was to acquire all knowledge, and to build futuristic weapons. Thankfully, “M.C.” was always foiled by Felix. But, like a scary movie plot, M.C. is back! We are clearly working with Master Cylinder’s offspring: ChatGPT and Anthropic’s “Claude” (unquestionably my namesake). Thus, a whole new “bag of tricks.” Where are you, Felix? An anxious country needs you!
While I have participated in many CLE panels discussing the present and future uses of A.I. and L.L.M.s, I have naively remained uncertain and a bit skeptical. No more. I realize that resistance is futile. Like aging, global warming, and additional seasons of America’s Got Talent, there is nothing that will stop the relentless advance of A.I. and its integration in our lives, and more importantly, into the practice of law.
Now, I have thoughtfully considered that my resistance may be age-related. Old people hate confusing new stuff, like Instagram and espresso machines. This same prejudice has always applied to the legal profession. But, the Patron Saint of Law Office Operations, the late great J. Harris Morgan, of Greenville, Texas, (1926-2010) constantly warned us that lawyers who fail to modernize are doomed to be dead and forgotten: “Dinosaurs,” he would say. In his very entertaining fashion, he recounted the historical fate of lawyers:
a. who refused to use a copy machine, relying instead on carbon paper;
b. who insisted on having a secretary who took shorthand rather than learn to use a dictation device;
c. who sent appellate briefs to a printing shop rather than get a word processor;
And, I would add this contemporary item to his examples:
d. Firms who refuse to take electronic payments, relying on the U.S. Mail to deliver firm billing statements, and to await patiently and cluelessly for the client’s check.
Yup. All Dinosaurs.
In February 1991, Morgan informed a large crowd of attendees at a CLE conference that, within that decade, we would “no longer be heating and air-conditioning 1,500 books” in our law office libraries, because everything would be on computer. Heresy! Liar! The angry lawyers rebuked him, while the crowd heated up the tar and feathers at the luncheon buffet. But he was absolutely right. So, it’s time for me to exercise my inner Harris Morgan, and embrace the obvious: A.I. will kill me and steal my wife.
No, not really. But from all the adulation I see in our profession, none of the changes to our profession in the last 50 years–from computerization, instant communication protocols or E-filing–will have the immense and profound effect as the expansion of A.I. A great guide to normalizing my acknowledgment and appreciation of A.I.’s importance has been an article by Craig Ball, called “The Leery Lawyer’s Guide to AI and LLMs in Trial Practice.” (I am sure it is accessible through the SBOT CLE Library, and it is very easy to read.)
Last year, I participated in a national panel of four lawyers discussing the uses of A.I. in practice, the younger lawyers were absolutely ecstatic with the use of A.I. for correspondence, summarization, organization and research. When I challenged a lawyer with my admittedly weak argument: “Isn’t it important to you to learn how to communicate effectively in writing.” He intelligently responded. “Oh. Me not like you. I do cofefe.” Well said.
Now, of course, there are some decidedly consequential downsides to our expanded use of A.I. Its data farms use MASSIVE amounts of energy. And its appetite is increasing. I think that’s because it is beholden to people who keep A.I. on their cell phones, and ask ChatGPT for important data like “Where is the best strawberry ice cream in Austin?” (I am not making this up). The amount of energy consumed by ChatGPT to answer that critical question could have instead, run the lights in Jaipur India for the month of March. And if you live anywhere within the curvature of the earth from one of these data farms, you are subjected to an incessant hum which, over time, will turn your brain into nougat. But at least you’ll know where the good ice cream is.
Scientists already acknowledge that A.I. is getting stronger and more powerful, and a 2025 research study by Palisade Research showed the A.I. systems are learning how to resist being shut off. A.I. consultant Jud Rosenblatt made it clear on CBS news that A.I. is in fact, learning how to escape human control. As scary as that may be, I try to think of the upsides to A.I.’s increasing control and use of logic. I can imagine some wonderful improvements:
• A.I. could actually evaluate stupid questions, and banish those users.
• A.I. could do a much better job at prosecuting corruption, so we’ll be needing to replace lots of politicians.
• Since A.I. can reason perfectly without a backbone, we could replace at least 51 U.S. senators who can’t.
• Arnold Schwarzegger could play ChatGPT in the movie version. Claude could be played by (ahem) well. You know.
In the meantime, in other news, I’ve been keeping an eye on our efforts here in Texas which have been given the contradictory term “academic freedom.” There’s an update to courses which will be banned at Texas Academic institutions:
Entomology departments are no longer allowed to teach Bee Keeping, given their communist tendencies. (And don’t even get me started about obeying a “Queen.”)
Biological Parthenogenesis: Discussing asexual reproduction (especially by vertebrates) is forbidden, until the next Texas Legislature assigns “genders” to their offspring, so they’ll know which bathroom to use.
As usual, please keep the faith, and protect our noble profession. And you already know where the good ice cream is.