The City of Buenos Aires' Public Prosecution Service revealed that it has been implementing ChatGPT to draft preliminary rulings in public employment cases since May 2024, Rest of the World reported. The technology has already been utilised in 20 legal sentences, reducing drafting time from an hour to approximately 10 minutes.

"We, as professionals, are not the main characters anymore. We have become editors," Juan Corvalán, deputy attorney general in contentious administrative and tax matters, told the outlet, highlighting the shifting role of legal professionals in an AI-enhanced judiciary.

This transition follows the success of PROMETEA, an earlier AI system developed in 2017 in Argentina that achieved 90% accuracy in predicting case outcomes. However, PROMETEA's need for specific training per crime category has led to its gradual replacement by the more powerful OpenAI model, though it remains in use for sensitive cases involving gender and domestic violence.

"By using AI systems, our aspiration is to promote a transition towards a new archetype of exponential public organisations. In simple terms, the digital or algorithmic organisation does not progress by “opening more offices” but rather by expanding or adjusting algorithms," said PROMETEA's founder, Juan Gustavo Corvalán, in a 2020 interview.

Legal experts, however, have raised concerns about potential risks. "Any inconsistent use, such as sharing sensitive information, could have a considerable legal cost," Lucas Barreiro, a personal data protection specialist at Privaia, told Rest of the World.

Additionally, with AI hallucinations occurring in approximately 17% of cases, according to recent Stanford research, the judiciary faces the daunting challenge of balancing efficiency gains against potential risks to legal integrity and personal data protection.

Still, the innovation is epoch-making. "For the legal industry, ChatGPT may portend an even more momentous shift than the advent of the internet," stated Andrew Perlman, Dean at Suffolk University Law School.

This development is yet another step in Argentina’s adoption of AI technology. With President Javier Milei aiming to transform Argentina into a tech hub, the use of emerging technologies such as ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools is providing citizens with the ability to enhance their technological literacy. It also offers the government valuable means to reduce bureaucracy and slash public spending, in line with Milei's "chainsaw" agenda.