State bars drafting new ethics rules to regulate AI? A fool’s errand.
State bars issuing guidance on how AI use fits into the existing regulatory framework? Sublime wisdom.
The Virginia State Bar leads the way:
Guidance on Generative Artificial Intelligence
By now it’s well known that lawyers must pay attention to “the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.” Comment [6] to Rule 1.1. In the case of generative AI, those benefits and risks seem to be evolving by the day as the technology, and our skills to use it, rapidly develop. Nonetheless, a lawyer’s basic ethical responsibilities have not changed, and many ethics issues involving generative AI are fundamentally similar to issues lawyers face when working with other technology or other people (both lawyers and nonlawyers). These resources attempt to provide some specific guidance on how to evaluate the benefits and risks of particular uses of generative AI and how to apply ethics rules and standards to generative AI applications.