NBA raises ethical concerns in Ai usage by Nigerian lawyers  

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has expressed concerns that the use of Artificial Intelligence by lawyers could lead to violation of ethical rules guiding the practice of the profession in Nigeria.

The Association stated this as it released Guidelines for the use of the technology by legal professionals in the country.

While noting that AI is at the forefront of the technological revolution offering immense potential to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and accessibility in the delivery of legal services, the immediate past NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau said the integration of AI into the legal profession “raises complex ethical, legal, and regulatory questions that demand careful consideration.”

The Guidelines 

Emphasizing that responsible AI adoption that upholds human oversight, data privacy, and transparency in decision-making is important, the NBA in the Guidelines pointed out that AI offers Nigerian lawyers valuable tools to enhance their practice.

• It added that automating repetitive tasks like contract review frees up time for complex legal matters requiring expertise and judgment.

• The Bar, however, noted that overreliance on AI can interfere with a lawyer’s duty to exercise diligence, caution, and care which a lawyer owes a client.

“Given that AI cannot be trusted to make correct decisions or provide accurate information, a lawyer has a duty not to rely fully on AI otherwise he violates his duty of care under Rule 14(1),” it stated in the Guidelines 

It also observed that AI algorithms can inherit biases from the data they are trained on, which raises concerns about AI perpetuating discrimination or suggesting unlawful actions, potentially leading to violations of Rule 15(3)(h) of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2023 (RPC).

“Lawyers must be aware of potential biases in AI tools and critically evaluate outputs to ensure they comply with their ethical and legal obligations,” it added. 

• According to the Guidelines, some AI tools can generate or alter evidence in a way that supports a party’s position.

• It cited as an instance, the fact that AI can be used to generate an image of a client showing them in a particular location to serve as an alibi in a criminal trial or a false statement of a witness, written or spoken, that is developed after training the model on voice or writing samples of the witness in question,

• While noting that this could potentially lead to a violation of Rule 15(3), it said lawyers must do their best to ensure that pieces of evidence used or kept by them do not fall into this category.

What you should know 

• Although the use of AI is growing by the day across industries globally, the challenge of ethical issues around it has been a major concern for many users.
• Among others, the issue of privacy is a major concern fuelled by the fact that AI systems often require access to large amounts of data, including sensitive personal information.
• In addition, as AI systems become more autonomous, there are also concerns about the potential loss of human control.