Can ChatGPT Interpret Legal Documents Effectively? Exploring AI’s Role in Legal Language Services

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Exploring the importance of legal interpreters in trials, justice, and fairness within the United States legal system.
Can ChatGPT Interpret Legal Documents Effectively - Exploring the Role of AI in Legal Language Services
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Patrick Evanson

Director of Localization at PGLS

Do you use generative AI at work? If you don’t, you’re no longer in the majority. A 2024 Glassdoor survey found that 62 percent of 5,000 surveyed professionals use ChatGPT or other generative AI tools at work, up from 43 percent in 2023. 

Although the technology still has a long way to go, tools like ChatGPT are gaining momentum as de-facto assistants for everyday office tasks. Need help with drafting an email reply? Want to read the key takeaways rather than an entire meeting transcript? Can’t think of a good synonym? ChatGPT is a handy helper in plenty of cases, especially for low-stakes, repeatable work products that are easy to fact-check. 

When working on a multilingual legal case, one frequent process that might benefit from generative AI’s impressive speed and capacity is legal document translation. Partners and paralegals alike are asking the question: can I use ChatGPT to interpret legal documents? 

It depends on what you mean by interpret. Your firm’s privacy and AI policies may (or may not) allow the use of ChatGPT to summarize content for legal briefs, decks, or emails. If, however, you’re wondering whether you should use ChatGPT to translate content from one language to another, the short answer is: don’t. Instead, you should leverage a large language model (LLM) built for legal language service needs (and supervised by an expert linguist). 

Let’s explore the best ways to leverage AI-powered translation in the legal field, including strategies that ensure accuracy, protect confidential data, and help you enhance client service.

Using ChatGPT to Translate Legal Documents: Do’s and Don’ts

There are appropriate use cases for ChatGPT, and there are others that should be avoided at all costs. Where should you draw the line? 

ChatGPT works well if you’re generating summaries and key points or hunting for additional research sources. Be careful, though — “hallucination” describes the phenomenon in which AI chatbots provide incorrect answers or invent facts. Generative AI has even been reported to fabricate legal cases that do not exist. How or why this phenomenon occurs is not well understood, making independent verification a core practice when evaluating a chatbot’s output. 

It stands to reason when approaching tasks that require additional nuance, specificity, or precision, ChatGPT should probably be avoided. You might be analyzing financial performance reports for an international business acquisition, reviewing paperwork for a citizenship application, or preparing to petition for an international adoption. As a rule, when the content is material to a case, translation should never be handled by a tool like ChatGPT.  

That doesn’t mean you should write off AI entirely. Just because ChatGPT is one of the most familiar, accessible chatbots doesn’t mean it’s your only option. Specialized LLMs can be a boon to efficiency, especially when translating large volumes of content under the supervision of expert linguists.

Benefits and Challenges of AI in Legal Document Translation  

Using AI for legal document translation offers several key benefits. Law firms stand to increase both the velocity and efficiency of the translation process when using an LLM. The downstream effects can lead to increased team bandwidth for client and case management. 

But on the other hand, using AI for legal document translation can also create more problems than it solves. For example, ChatGPT does not guarantee translation accuracy. If you do not have a dedicated linguist on staff to verify the content, you could end up making decisions based on mistranslated information, which could compromise case outcomes. 

A second risk factor you might not consider is related to privacy, ethics, and compliance. At the time of publishing this blog post, the free version of ChatGPT uses inputs to train its model. Confidential client, case, or company information should not be shared with online tools outside your firm’s secure IT ecosystem unless expressly permitted. 

Finally, using AI for translation can present conflicts with intellectual property issues. Since large language models are trained on a variety of inputs, which can include copyrighted materials, it is important that any translations are independently verified to ensure there is no infringement on intellectual property, especially when filing for trademarks. 

How to Use AI to Translate Legal Documents  

Due to the complexity and nuance of language, cultural differences, and context, translations powered by generative AI must be supervised and post-edited by expert linguists. AI tools must be a complement to, rather than a replacement for, skilled legal translators and interpreters. 

Human-supervised, generative AI-initiated translation can represent the best of both worlds as a scalable, high-tech process with a human guarantee. 

Rather than using ChatGPT to interpret legal documents, legal firms can enjoy the benefits of AI and avoid its predictable risks by partnering with a tech-enabled language services provider (LSP). Why?  

  • An expert LSP will use a legal-industry-trained LLM, ensuring a more precise and consistent translated product. 
  • An LSP with a legal industry background offers project management expertise that aligns with your case workflows and can execute on large volumes of content. 
  • An LSP’s team of linguistic experts post-edit and certify the accuracy of all LLM-initiated translations. They also develop a translation memory that helps to increase speed, consistency, and accuracy over time. 
  • Your LSP contract will ensure compliance with client confidentiality obligations.

Partner with PGLS for Expert-Led, AI-Enabled Legal Document Translation 

When it comes to professional-grade legal translation, ChatGPT leaves much to be desired. Instead, pairing linguist supervision and industry-specific models will help you reap the benefits of this emerging technology, so you can focus on serving your clients’ best interests. 

PGLS aligns linguistic expertise with cutting-edge technology to elevate our service offering to the legal industry. Our team of expert linguists leverages industry-leading large language models to increase the velocity and precision of high-volume legal translation projects. Contact us to learn more about our services for legal firms.