Big news! AI can’t give legal, medical or financial advice
If I were ChatGPT, I’d have been embarrassed.
In my “Top AI Legal Mistakes” webinar last month, I gave a long demo about how ChatGPT got the answers to legal questions incorrect… over and over again.
I kept showing how AI got things wrong – about what health coaches can do and say, about HIPAA and health coaches, the list goes on….
Honestly, I’ve been worried for a while now that some might think I was self-interested saying AI was incorrect about legal questions and documents.
📺 But, like a PSA, I was just trying to warn people that ChatGPT was wrong.
And now, I’m not the only one saying that.
Now ChatGPT admits it too – and they’ve changed their policies so AI can’t give legal, medical or financial advice.
Thank goodness! 😥
Over the past several months, OpenAI (and other AI providers) have quietly implemented new guardrails around licensed fields like law, medicine, and finance.
ChatGPT (and similar tools) can do things to “educate”, “summarize”, and “analyze” info (and that’s what you should use them for!), but now they can’t:
🚫 Give personalized legal advice
🚫 Draft state-specific legal documents for execution
🚫 Provide individualized health recommendations or treatments
🚫 Give financial or investing advice
It’s not about AI’s capabilities. It’s about AI avoiding the unauthorized practice of law or medicine – and telling people the wrong information.
(Um, that’s exactly what I’ve been warning about for months.)
You still need to work with lawyers for legal advice, doctors and other licensed practitioners for medical advice about diagnoses and treatments, and financial professionals for investment advice.
There’s a reason all of these professions had to go to school forever, take ridiculously long board exams, and get licensed to practice.
(Case in point: AI didn’t have to suffer through 80 hours of Contract Law in law school to learn how to draft and enforce contracts. Contracts seem so simple to write, I know – but, trust me, they aren’t. They’re hard for even lawyers to write. No wonder AI gets them wrong!)
And while we’re talking AI…
🎯 Here are 3 Other AI Updates You Need to Know
1. Copyright Lawsuits are Heating Up 🔥
Courts are cracking down on AI tools that “learned” from copyrighted material without permission. Recent court rulings do not establish a clear standard that all AI training is fair use – many questions remain unsettled.
In fact, Anthropic plans to settle a federal class-action lawsuit over its alleged use of pirated books to train Claude AI models for $1.5 Billion (the largest publicly recorded copyright settlement ever!) It also requires Anthropic to destroy its datasets of half a million pirated works! Yikes! (Read more here.)
Takeaway: Use AI to assist in your research or writing, but make sure you EDIT anything (and everything!) that you receive in a prompt response from ChatGPT.
2. Lawyers are Still Getting Fined 😳
Yes, really. Several attorneys have been penalized for filing briefs with fake case citations generated by AI. (Yes, these lawyers should know better. I DNK why they are being so stupid.)
Takeaway: AI is a tool – not a legal source of legal truth, even for lawyers.
(Just so you know, I never solely rely on AI for legal information.)
3. AI Won’t Replace You (But It Can Empower You) 💪
Right now, I’ve seen that the business owners who are thriving aren’t resisting AI… they’re partnering with it.
They – and you – can use it to:
✅ Brainstorm ideas
✅ Draft outlines and write content
✅ Organize info, create checklists + plan courses
✅ Speed up tasks
AI isn’t here to replace your expertise or mine – it’s here to enhance it.
The Bottom Line?
AI is a powerful tool – but only if you know how to use it legally, ethically, and strategically.
Whether you’re using AI for client support, marketing, or legal research, remember:
✔️ Verify the original source of information
✔️ Edit, edit, edit – don’t just copy and paste from ChatGPT
✔️ Stay within your licensed scope of practice – always!
✔️ Use it to amplify, not replace licensed professionals (and also yourself!)
I hope this little AI update was helpful to you.
If you have any questions about AI – or legal information that you’ve gotten recently from AI! – we’re here to help. Just comment below and ask your questions.
Here’s to using AI in a way that’s safe, helpful… and legally correct!
Want to learn how to use AI legally in your business? I covered these topics and more in my DIY Legal Master Class on “What Do I Need to Know When Using AI in My Business?” I recorded this class a while ago, but the AI issues are still the same today – even more so! If you’re new to using AI, check it out.
