False information produced by artificial intelligence tools in legal documents is creating new ethical challenges for lawyers, according to Darrell Sutton, who spoke at Kennesaw State University’s annual Ethics Awareness Week. Sutton, a partner at Sutton Law Group and former president of the State Bar of Georgia, addressed administrators, faculty, staff, and students during the event held Wednesday at the Carmichael Student Center.
Sutton explained that AI “hallucinations”—false information generated by AI but presented as fact—have appeared in civil and criminal court cases as well as in judicial orders. He noted that these incidents have attracted national attention due to several high-profile cases.
“No. 1 is a phenomenon called hallucinations, and this is not just applicable in law practice, but it has had the most publicity within law practice,” Sutton said.
Over the past year, Sutton chaired a committee for the state bar that collaborated with AI experts to assess how emerging technology could impact attorneys’ professional responsibilities. The committee determined that only three rules of professional conduct required amendments for ethical AI use; two were already under revision.
Skilled lawyers have been able to identify these AI-generated errors before they cause problems. Sutton predicted that as legal professionals become more aware of AI’s limitations, such issues should decrease over time.
“If the task is routine and repeatable, it’s probably appropriate to use AI, and I’ll give you a great example,” he said. “My practice involves the collection of and understanding of medical records. That’s something that can take hours for me to complete on my own, but with the appropriate AI tool, I can feed those records in, and it spits out a summary that’s really reliable in about 45 seconds.”
Sutton compared today’s shift toward using AI with previous technological changes like moving from typewriters to computers or from mail to email. He emphasized that while significant, this change does not pose an existential threat to lawyering itself.
“Law practice is making judgment calls in the midst of chaos with often incomplete information, which AI simply can’t do,” he said.
Ethics Awareness Week is part of an annual initiative by the University System of Georgia across its 26 colleges and universities. At Kennesaw State University (KSU), activities included campus events promoting ethics awareness on both Kennesaw and Marietta campuses. The week began Monday at Columbus State University with remarks from Chancellor Sonny Purdue and business leader Jimmy Blanchard.
Other KSU events included President Schwaig’s session titled “Leading with Purpose: Reflections on Ethics in Action” for students only; Thursday featured an Office of Research presentation called “Aligning AI with Public Values” and a virtual program from Student Conduct focusing on integrity and accountability. The week will conclude Friday with a system-wide virtual panel discussion titled “The Compliance Catalyst: Leadership that Shapes Culture.”
