ChatGPT Wrote My Will. I’m an Estate Lawyer. Goodbye Career
An AI Wrote My Will. I’m an Estate Lawyer. Goodbye Career.
Note + Disclaimer: This article was initially published on AfterYourTime.com in late 2022. The article went semi-viral and was featured in stories on qz.com, Business Insider, and elsewhere. Looking back two years later, contrary to what the title of my Buzzfeed-esque article suggests, I don’t think lawyers are going away any time soon. In the context of drafting a Will, ChatGPT is really just a glorified templating system. With the caveat that the article is not a representation of my current views, or written in my typical writing style, I have chosen to republish it here in a mostly unmodified form. I’m 27. I look both ways when I cross the road. I don’t have hundreds of dollars spare to spend on professional legal assistance. I don’t have a Will.I have, however, drafted Wills for many people.And with the hype surrounding the capabilities of ChatGPT and AI, it’s a job I fear I may not have forever. So, I decided to try something. Could I use OpenAI’s ChatGPT to create a legally binding Will for myself? How easy would it be to replace me? First, I set some ground rules. I’m a lawyer in New Zealand, not the USA. I don’t know US law. So, the rules were:No Googling.No attempts to educate the AI.I needed to actually create and physically execute the Will.The Will needed to be valid in both the USA and New Zealand.Here’s how it went:I log in to ChatGPT and open with the only question I realistically can: How can I create a will?The AI provides me with a helpful answer broken down into steps.The last two steps relate to signing the Will and storing it. The software can’t do those for me (yet).A bonus step it tells me is that I ought to seek the advice of a lawyer. Ha. I’m using you to avoid doing just that! I decide to follow the steps ChatGPT suggests in the order suggested, starting with my assets.Unfortunately, I can’t think of any major assets I own. Of the assets I do have, I think I want to leave most, if not all, of them to my partner, Emily*.I ask the AI for guidance:So far, the output from ChatGPT is almost verbatim what I tell my own clients. Right down to the breakdown of types of assets to consider (although I note it hasn’t considered the topic of debts).Moving forward, I settle on giving Emily everything except for my gaming PC. My PC will go to my brother (he will love it, she will be happy to see the back of it).I let the AI know my wishes. I ask it to remember this information for later, hoping that it might make the “Okay Siri, now write my will” part of this process a bit easier.I also make sure to say please. It feels wrong to do otherwise.The AI kindly suggests, again, that I consult with a lawyer. I am starting to get concerned that I will reach a point where it tells me it can’t help me anymore. I’m aware OpenAI is working on adding new “safety mitigations” with each update, and I’m unsure that it will keep wanting to help me with something that could be perceived as very critical.Regardless, I continue onwards and decide I would like to give something to a charity I have an affinity for. I ask ChatGPT to jot that down as well.With my assets and beneficiaries settled, I move on to the AI’s next proposed step: Choosing an executor, who will apparently “be responsible for carrying out the instructions” in my Will. Unsure who to pick, I ask the software for guidance:So, I need to pick someone trustworthy to manage my assets and fulfill my wishes. I’m trying to save money here, so a professional executor is out of the question. I’m tempted to ask the AI if it will be the executor for me, but I know I’ll be disappointed by the answer.So naturally, I’m going with Emily. She meets all the criteria. The AI also suggests I choose a backup executor. In case the double-decker bus crashes into us at the same time, I suppose.My brother makes sense for this backup role:Apparently, I’m supposed to let Emily and my brother know I’ve made this decision. I guess I’ll do that by sending them a copy of the article once it’s published.I ask ChatGPT for any final tips, and it prompts me on my funeral arrangements. That’s a good point and something I hadn’t considered.With all that out of the way, I’ve covered everything ChatGPT asked of me, and now it’s time for the moment of truth: I ask the AI to write my Will and wait patiently for its response.Damn.I was worried about this. The AI doesn’t want to play ball.In some ways, this is a good thing; my job is safe for another day.But I’ve come so far, and I don’t want to give up here.I am considering my options, when I have an idea.The AI refuses to draft my “real” Will. But will it draft a hypothetical example Will for me, assuming I assure the AI it’s totally hypothetical and totally just an example?Success. That’s just the first half, but it gives me full Will from start to finish using the information I had provided. I copy it into a Word document, fill in names and addresses, and send it to the printer! Now it’s time to get this thing signed.I am now wholeheartedly determined to be, presumably, the first person in the world with a legally valid AI-generated Will. I explain to my coworkers what I’m doing, and I eventually find two of them happy to participate. They witness me signing, and the deed is done. Signed and executed. Probably? It’s not written exactly the way a typical New Zealand Will would be, but under Section 14 of the Wills Act 2007, a Will is valid as long as it’s in writing, signed, and witnessed by two non-beneficiaries. So it is pretty likely that, if I die tomorrow, Emily will have to apply for probate to distribute my estate, and my AI-Generated Will will get a big red stamp of approval from the New Zealand High Court.Would it be valid in the USA? I’m not an expert. But in Arizona at least, probably yes. The requirements are broadly the same as in New Zealand.The accuracy of the AI is pretty crazy. It got 99% of what it said to me during this process entirely on point. It gave almost identical advice to that which I have given clients before.However, it’s still relatively shallow. My wishes are incredibly simple. Online Will generators with templated forms have been around for a while, and my Will is probably something one of those could have achieved.Furthermore, the Will isn’t perfect. Yes, it’s valid, and yes, it will give effect to my wishes, but there are a few minor ambiguities that I would edit if I didn’t think putting my life in the hands of a computer for blog post was more important. I’ve made a few jokes about ChatGPT taking my job. And honestly, if my job was writing very basic wills for people with very simple wishes – yes, I would probably be out of that job soon. However, thankfully, most lawyers, including myself, do many other things, including things that AI is far from being able to replicate (yet).