It started harmlessly enough, with kids using artificial intelligence to cheat on their writing assignments, but the technology has become a palpable threat to society as lawyers and others in the justice system have conducted novel experiments with it and even clearly misused it.

In the five years since OpenAI unleashed Chat GPT-3 on the public, people have found creative and sometimes unwise uses for the technology, including attorneys who harnessed it to write briefs with fake citations.

Recognizing the risk, the Georgia Supreme Court undertook a 10-month review in August and released new recommendations on Thursday. The state’s high court proposes a three-year process to adapt to AI.

It will start with establishing leadership and governance and conclude with new policies and processes for all the courts in Georgia’s judicial system. There will be community engagement, process reviews, education and training, and the establishment of business and technology architectures along the way.

The committee behind the new report, “Artificial Intelligence and Georgia’s Courts,” was led by Justice Andrew A. Pinson. It incorporates observations by the State Bar of Georgia’s Board of Governors, who produced their own report on the risks of AI in early June.

The bar’s report said revisions to a rule of conduct for lawyers was “particularly critical” because it was about their competence and proficiency with technology.

“It is the committee’s assessment GenAI tools will in short order become ubiquitous,” the bar report’s authors wrote.

Pinson’s committee cited numerous examples of AI uses that occurred just during the 10 months of their review process, such as the Indiana Supreme Court’s introduction of AI for voice-to-text transcriptions, the Arizona Supreme Court’s use of AI avatars to deliver news about rulings by their justices, and a family’s use of AI to create a victim impact statement by their dead relative during the sentencing phase of the trial over his road rage death.

“A key challenge the committee faced during its work is the rapidly evolving nature of a technology new to courts and organizations across the country,” Pinson’s committee concluded.

The panel noted acceptable uses for AI such as for research and scheduling, unacceptable uses such as for jury selection and “black box” sentencing algorithms, and potential uses that need more study and testing such as language translation and sentencing and risk assessments.

For many physicians, the prior authorization process is one of the most frustrating parts of practicing medicine. What was intended as a cost-control measure has become a significant administrative burden, taking time away from patient care and adding layers of complexity to routine clinical decisions. Physicians often find themselves spending hours navigating insurer requirements, tracking down documentation, and enduring delays that can negatively impact patient outcomes.

But artificial intelligence may be part of the solution.

We spoke with Brad Boyd of BDO Consulting about how new technologies are being developed to streamline and even automate parts of the prior authorization process. From reducing paperwork to identifying which procedures are likely to be approved, AI tools are showing promise in helping practices manage approvals more efficiently—and with less stress.

AI systems can now integrate with electronic health records to gather relevant clinical data, match it against payer criteria, and generate documentation in real time. Some platforms can flag missing information or alert staff to likely denials before they happen. Others can help determine when prior authorization isn’t required at all, eliminating unnecessary steps.

While not a silver bullet, AI offers the potential to reduce the time and cost associated with prior authorizations. And as regulations continue to push for greater transparency and speed in the process, many in the industry believe AI will play a critical role in helping practices adapt.

Artificial intelligence has quickly become the backbone of many real estate technologies, powering CRMs, marketing tools, operational software and more. But can AI eventually help consumers buy and sell homes with no human support? 

While some companies are pursuing a fully AI-powered transaction, others — like WithJoy.AI — are taking a “best of both worlds” approach. The recently launched brokerage, which is piloting its offering in Washington state, aims to offload much of a human buyer agent’s work to an AI agent — “Joy” — but also provides real people to help buyers get to the finish line.

AI for the nuts and bolts, humans for hand-holding

A 2024 report from T3 Sixty found that a staggering 80% of an agent’s tasks can be handled by AI, leaving agents to focus on the “fine tuning” — and, says WithJoy Co-founder and CEO Dave Clark, the “scary” stuff.

WithJoy currently specializes in the buy-side of the transaction, leveraging tech where possible to assist both consumers and agents after deciding a fully automated approach wasn’t viable.  

“Our initial vision when we started working on this over a year ago was that we’re going to create a purely AI real estate agent,” said Clark. 

“We very quickly realized that, regulatorily speaking, you actually can’t do that. So, instead, we got kind of the best of both worlds. You still have the human presence to do the part of the job that tech really won’t be able to, like being someone who’s going to hold your hand and walk you through the scary aspects that people are going to be less likely to just trust a purely digital interface.”

The company helps buyers zero in on a home using natural language search, and when a buyer is ready to move forward, WithJoy can help draft an “AI-backed offer” that is approved by an agent before it goes in front of a client.

A substitute for an agent’s local market expertise? 

In WithJoy’s model, there’s a local agent available for buyers who have questions — but that may not always be the case as this type of technology expands.

“My biggest concern is actually for the clients, many of whom will be tempted to forgo contracting with a local, more expensive agent who provides a higher level of service than an AI, or a remote agent-plus-AI team,” said Sebastian Frey, broker associate at Compass Silicon Valley in Los Gatos, California.  

“I always consider one of my primary jobs as a buyer’s agent to help a buyer avoid making a horrible mistake, and I can see a lot of buyers not fully understanding what they’re getting into if they rely solely on AI to help them close the deal, or relying on an AI-empowered agent hundreds of miles away who has zero experience with the intricacies of the local market they’re buying in.”

But, Frey acknowledges, experienced buyers and investors who know the ins and outs of real estate may welcome a more hands-off, AI-driven option. “In fact, many will wholeheartedly embrace it,” Frey predicts. And they might also value the cost savings — WithJoy says buyers using their system can receive a rebate of up to 70% of the buy-side commission.

What lies ahead

Many agents are already embracing AI tools in their everyday work, letting the tech handle time-consuming tasks like writing up CMAs or listing descriptions so an agent can simply review them rather than create them from scratch.

Tech-forward brokerages like Real, Compass and Keller Williams have created proprietary AI tools for their agents, as have third-party proptech companies and startups, and MLSs are jumping on the AI bandwagon as well.

It’s clear that the technology is not only here to stay, but rapidly advancing — and in an AI future, real estate professionals who don’t embrace it will likely get left behind.