Artificial intelligence is an incredible tool, and it’s changing the way legal research is done. But like any other tool, its effectiveness depends on the person using it. In the hands of someone with legal training, AI can make research faster and more efficient. Without that knowledge, though, it can produce answers that sound authoritative but are inaccurate or even completely made up.

The key to using AI effectively isn’t simply knowing how to write a prompt. It’s knowing enough about the law to ask the right questions, recognize when something doesn’t look right, and verify the answer before relying on it. AI is an excellent resource, but it isn’t a lawyer, and it shouldn’t be treated as one.

Let’s look at a visual to make our point.

We asked a popular generative AI model to create a coloring book page of a horse jumping over a fence. This is the response we received from the AI model upon the picture being generated:

“Here’s your coloring page! It features a horse mid-jump over a
three-rail fence, with flowing mane and tail, muscular detail lines,
and tucked front legs in a classic jump pose. The scene includes
decorative elements like flowers, butterflies, clouds, birds, grass tufts,
and an ornamental border frame.”

That sounds lovely.

Here is the actual image the AI model generated:

Anyone can tell that this picture is not the lovely country image of a majestic horse jumping over a fence. This image is not the result we asked for nor is it the picture the AI model described. For this one, we don’t need any formal art training to understand that this picture is not doing the job.

AI has significant limitations when it comes to legal analysis. While it excels at processing and summarizing information, it cannot replicate the analytical judgment that attorneys develop through education, training, and experience. Providing legal advice requires more than simply finding information—it requires evaluating the facts, identifying the relevant law, applying that law to the specific circumstances, and exercising professional judgment to reach a sound legal conclusion. AI is not only limited in performing that analysis, but it can also struggle to identify the correct legal authority in the first place. As a result, it is easy to be led astray, particularly when researching an area of law with which you are unfamiliar.

AI is not a substitute for an experienced lawyer in the practice area that deals with your specific legal issue. Don’t get stuck with AI legal research results, or even worse an AI-generated legal document, that to a trained eye looks exactly like the above picture.