Law firm restricts AI after ‘significant’ staff use

An international law firm prevented public access to many artificial intelligence tools (AI) after it found a “significant increase in use” by its employees.

In an e -mail seen by the BBC, the first manager of Hill Dickinson, which employs more than a thousand people in the UK, the employees of the use of artificial intelligence tools warned.

The company said that a lot of use was not in line with its artificial intelligence policy, and to move forward, the company will not only allow employees to access tools through the demand process.

A spokesman for the Information Commissioner Office – Data Monitoring in the United Kingdom – told BBC News that companies should not inhibit the use of artificial intelligence at work.

The spokesperson added: “As artificial intelligence advances to endless people to work more efficiently and effectively, the answer to organizations cannot prohibit the use of artificial intelligence and pushing employees to use it under the radar.

“Instead, companies need to provide AI tools for their employees that meet their organizational policies and data protection obligations.”

In the email, Hill Deconce Senior Technology Office said that the law firm had discovered more than 32,000 visits to the famous chat seven days in January and February.

During the same time frame, there were also more than 3000 visits to the Chinese artificial intelligence service, which was recently Australian government agencies are prohibited from security concerns.

It also highlighted approximately 50,000 visits to grammatical rules, the writing aid tool.

However, it is not clear in the number of occasions visited by ChatGPT, Deepseek, language grammar, or the number of employees who visited over and over, as it was possible to create many visits by a user during each time they used web sites.

“We have monitored the use of the tools, especially the solutions available to the public, and they noticed a significant increase in using files and downloading them to these tools,” email told Hill Dickinson employees.

“Like many lawyers, we aim to positively embrace our people to use artificial intelligence tools to enhance our capabilities and customers,” told Hill Dickson, who has offices in several parts of England and abroad, later BBC News.

The company added that the artificial intelligence policy, which includes instructions prohibiting the download of customer information and requires employees to verify the accuracy of the responses of large language models, will ensure the use of “use” safe, safe and effective.

The company now only gives access to artificial intelligence tools through the demand process. It is understood that some requests have already been received and approved.

“Despite this increasing interest in new technology, there is still a lack of digital skills in all sectors in the UK,” BBC News told BBC News.

“This may pose a threat to companies and consumers if legal practitioners do not fully understand the new technology that is implemented.”

According to a survey of 500 UK lawyers by the CLIO software provider in September, 62 % expected an increase in the use of artificial intelligence within the next 12 months.

It found that law firms throughout the United Kingdom are using technology to complete tasks such as drafting documents, reviewing or analyzing contracts and legal research.

A spokesman for the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology described artificial intelligence as a “technological leap” that would “free workers from repeated tasks and cancel more rewarding opportunities.”

They told BBC News: “We are committed to providing legislation that allows us to realize AI’s enormous benefits safely. We are participating widely and we will launch a general time consultation in a timely manner to ensure our approach to address this technology effectively develops effectively,” they told BBC News.

Additional reports by Lev McMahon