AI TOOLS REQUIRE EXPERT OVERSIGHT TO AVOID LEGAL RISK
AI as a tool contributes to faster and more efficient outcomes. It finds, writes, compiles and generates documents and images based on your prompts. But that is key – your prompt.
Think of your prompt as an instruction. The more expertise you have, the better you can prompt AI and evaluate its output. If AI is a tool in your workplace, it is likely performing work alongside many of your employees. Therefore, its results are likely being incorporated into your work products. How that happens could affect the quality of your work, which may impact how fast your business grows or legal risks it encounters.
Responsible use of AI in your workplace
You are the expert, not AI
AI output needs to be verified and this is quite difficult to do when you have only introductory knowledge on any given topic. Experts will more quickly and easily identify hallucinations, improper context or incorrect information, so the end product will be more reliable.
AI results need to be checked
Currently, AI tools are prone to many issues that if not caught early, could lead to exponential expansion of falsities, if others are relying on the output or incorporating it into other work products. Consider all AI results as plausible, rather than truthful. Experts will carefully correct AI outputs.
Know your tool
Being aware of how AI pulls in its sources, or answers your questions allows you to know the limits of what it can do. This is extremely important when its outcome is influencing decision making. AI results are starting points, not conclusive information. Experts need to consider both AI’s findings as well as anything outside the scope of AI results.
Be specific
AI will answer your questions but are the answers applicable to your exact scenario? If answers may change in different jurisdictions, did you provide that information in the prompt? Just because you asked, and AI answered, doesn’t mean that answer is relevant. Experts will give AI detailed and specific prompts.
“Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover”
Just because AI gave you an answer that looked reliable, with sources and citations, etc. It could very well have made those up, or attributed a quote that didn’t exist, or created new facts or assumptions. Experts will verify these details.
AI Tools might breach privacy
Most consumer level AI products do not offer privacy protections for personal information, but enterprise level products usually do. If your company collects personally identifying information such as client names, contact Information, birth dates or sensitive information such as financial or health data, it’s quite important to ensure your tech stack works with you to protect this data. Regulated professionals are professionally obligated to do so. Breaches of privacy are costly mistakes. One way to mitigate is to use contract agreements with your vendors and outline how data is handled and where it is stored.
How does AI “Think”?
As Sarah Hirebet, Director of Knowledge and Innovation, at Stradley Ronon, notes at a recent CLIO presentation during the Legal AI Accelerator Summit in August 2026,
Large Language Models “LLM” are designed to:
- Identify statistical patterns from their training data.
- Future answers may pull from incorrect training data, so AI might ‘believe’ a false input and give that answer to someone else.
- Reproduce biases based on its training input.
- Predict words, not retrieve facts; it is not a search engine.
- Make profit.
- Tell you something positive about any question you ask.
- Provide ‘likely’ outputs rather than truthful results.
RESPONSIBLE USE OF AI IN YOUR BUSINESS CAN PROTECT YOUR COMPANY
Businesses have many intangible assets, such as your goodwill or reputation and when these are harmed, business may suffer. Recovering may take a long time, as it’s not easy to rebuild trust with your clients. Companies that take AI and its use in the workplace seriously can proactively mitigate harm that may arise with irresponsible use of AI.
The best way forward is to develop an AI Use policy and provide training on incorporating AI tools in your company. Policies ensure all your employees know what is expected when using AI.
COMPLIANCE IS NOT AN OPTION, AND EMPLOYERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR DECISIONS WHETHER THEY WERE MADE OR INFLUENCED BY AI
Businesses that understand the benefits and limitations of AI will best be able to develop useful AI Policies for the workplace, that protects the company from preventable and irresponsible mistakes. Currently, employers with more than 25 employees need to disclose when AI is used to screen assess or select applicants during the recruiting process [*see our blog post AI Hiring Tools: Here’s How Employers Can Stay on the Right Side of the Law*], but the general use of AI in businesses is not regulated in Ontario. However, businesses still must adhere to privacy, human rights and employment laws, so developing policies to ensure compliance is a wise business decision.
[see our blog post on Why Every Employer Now Needs an AI Policy]
How SpringLaw can help
Springlaw is a tech focused employment law firm and can assist in developing Responsible Use of AI Policies, governance structures, compliance frameworks, and vendor contract agreements that protect your organization while allowing employees to benefit from responsible AI-driven productivity gains. Contact Us!
