If you have heard one thing about generative AI over the past couple of years, it is probably “ChatGPT,” since it is by far the most famous and widely used Large Language Model (LLM) currently accessible to businesses and everyday consumers. If you have used ChatGPT in the past, you might have been impressed by its ability to provide detailed human-like responses to complex questions, as well as its ability to process and analyze uploaded documents.
However, the reality for personal injury lawyers is more complicated than the hype suggests. While 31% of legal professionals now use generative AI in their work, multiple attorneys have been sanctioned—including a $10,000 fine for submitting fabricated case citations—and ChatGPT is not HIPAA compliant, creating serious compliance risks for PI firms handling medical records. Understanding exactly what ChatGPT can and cannot do safely is the difference between gaining a competitive edge and facing career-ending consequences.
Here's what you need to know:
TLDR: Key Takeaways
- ChatGPT is an open network where anything you share becomes public domain and can be used by OpenAI or other platforms. Use it only for non-proprietary tasks when there's no issue with the information getting out.
- Avoid using ChatGPT for legal research or medical records because it fabricates case citations, violates HIPAA, and exposes confidential information; multiple attorneys have been sanctioned with fines up to $10,000
Purpose-built legal AI platforms like Supio offer HIPAA compliance, 96.6% accuracy, human verification, and domain-specific training that ChatGPT cannot match
Quick Q&A:
Q: Can Lawyers Use ChatGPT?
A: Yes, for specific low-risk tasks and brainstorming with rigorous verification. It can help with research brainstorming, but you must verify all information through proper legal databases before relying on it.
Q: Is ChatGPT HIPAA compliant?
A: It depends on which version you're using. Standard ChatGPT (free, Plus, Team, or Business) is NOT HIPAA compliant and does not offer BAAs. ChatGPT Enterprise or Edu can be HIPAA compliant if you have a sales-managed account and sign a BAA. For most law firms using standard ChatGPT, uploading medical records violates HIPAA because the platform is an open network where information becomes public domain.
Q: What should personal injury lawyers use for medical record analysis?
A: Purpose-built legal AI platforms like Supio that are HIPAA compliant, trained on medical/legal data, and verified by humans.
What Is ChatGPT Built to Do?
LLMs like ChatGPT are algorithms designed to identify patterns in large sets of data and “learn” from that data how to respond to queries like a human being would. When ChatGPT answers a question entered by a user or analyzes an uploaded document, it synthesizes the text it has been given, searches through the data it has already learned from for similar information and tries to give you the output you are looking for based on what has been said and done in the past. And they do this in a human-like fashion.
What ChatGPT cannot do, though, is truly “think” on its own. All it can do is work with the information you give it, which means you will need to be very specific with prompting it to return specific results and double-check the responses to make sure they are factually accurate.
Where ChatGPT excels: It's a valuable brainstorming tool and can help draft professional-sounding internal and external communications. Think of it as a capable writing assistant for non-confidential content—not a substitute for legal expertise or judgment.
ChatGPT Is an Open Network (Standard Versions Are NOT HIPAA Compliant)
You should be extremely wary about what documents you upload to a platform like ChatGPT since there is no guarantee that those documents will remain private. Standard ChatGPT (free, Plus, Team, and Business versions) operates as an open network where information you share becomes public domain and can be folded into the model's existing data sets to be referenced for queries made by other people in the future.
Standard ChatGPT is not HIPAA compliant. While OpenAI does offer Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) for ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu versions with sales-managed accounts, most law firms use standard versions that do not qualify for BAAs or HIPAA compliance.
HIPAA violations can cost up to $50,000 per violation (source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services). If you upload a client's medical records to standard ChatGPT, you may have committed a HIPAA violation, breached your ethical duty of confidentiality under ABA Model Rule 1.6, and exposed yourself to malpractice liability.
If your firm chooses to use ChatGPT (including Enterprise versions) with client information: Clients must sign documentation acknowledging that their law firm is using an open AI system to analyze their data. Most clients, when informed that their information will be processed through AI platforms, prefer to keep their information private and need to be fully aware of how their data will be handled before consenting to this approach.
ChatGPT Fabricates Legal Citations
Multiple attorneys have been sanctioned for ChatGPT legal research misconduct. In 2024, a California court ordered an attorney to pay $10,000 for filing an appeal where 21 of 23 quoted cases were ChatGPT hallucinations. The infamous Mata v. Avianca, 22-cv-1461 (S.D.N.Y. 2023) case saw attorneys sanctioned for citing six completely fabricated cases that ChatGPT generated with complete confidence.
While ChatGPT can help brainstorm legal research ideas, the sanctioned attorneys' mistake was failing to verify the output. Always check case citations in Westlaw or Lexis before relying on them.
General AI vs. Purpose-Built AI: Why It Matters
Purpose-built legal AI platforms use specialized LLMs trained specifically on medical records and legal data. This provides significantly higher accuracy than general-purpose open AI systems like ChatGPT, which was designed for broad consumer use rather than specialized legal work.
ChatGPT's limitations for legal work include:
- Page count restrictions that prevent analyzing complete case files
- No medical domain training, so it can't reliably interpret medical-legal causation
- Unverifiable outputs where you can't determine the source or accuracy of information
For personal injury work requiring medical record analysis, the gap between general AI and purpose-built AI is the difference between guesswork and reliable insights
What Can Supio Do That ChatGPT Cannot?
An all-in-one AI platform like Supio solves these major problems with ChatGPT at once. Supio is purpose-built to analyze medical data in a secure, isolated environment and deliver reliable insights that legal professionals can actually trust in court—not an open network where your case information becomes public domain.
HIPAA Compliance
Unlike standard ChatGPT (free, Plus, Team, Business), Supio is HIPAA compliant out of the box and keeps everything you upload completely secure in an isolated environment where no one can access private information related to a client's case. Business Associate Agreements are standard practice—no enterprise sales process required—and all security requirements for handling Protected Health Information are built into the platform. You don't need to worry about whether uploading medical records will create a compliance nightmare because Supio was designed to handle PHI from day one.
Medical Training
Supio was specifically trained to understand medical data and legal workflows for personal injury cases. It was trained to organize, analyze, and summarize medical records and any other legal documents relative to your case so that you will not need to do as much legwork. Unlike ChatGPT's general internet training, Supio understands medical terminology, treatment protocols, causation analysis, and how medical findings impact case value.
Human Verification
Because Supio's platform is designed to keep your case matter contained in its secure environment and is verified by humans who are in the QA loop, you don't have to question whether or not the presented information is correct or not. You can trust its accuracy because every insight is linked to the source document where the information is pulled from, for reference.
Supio has demonstrated 96.6% extraction accuracy in medical data analysis. Lawyers trust the insights that are delivered so much that they even take Supio to court with them.
Note: Supio performance metrics ($1B+ in settlements, 27,000+ cases, 96.6% accuracy, 83% win rate) are based on internal data from the Supio platform.
Page Limitations
While ChatGPT has page count limitations, Supio can process entire case files collectively, analyzing everything together to identify patterns and causation across all treatment episodes. Supio creates the specific deliverables personal injury lawyers actually need: medical chronologies, demand letters optimized for insurance evaluation, case economics tracking, and deposition preparation—not just generic text responses.
Proven Track Record
Supio has processed $1 billion+ in settlements across 27,000+ cases and maintains an 83% win rate in head-to-head competitor comparisons. When you're negotiating with insurance adjusters who are using sophisticated AI evaluation tools, you need AI that's just as sophisticated on your side.
Discover More About the Benefits of Supio AI Over ChatGPT for Legal Professionals
To leverage AI effectively in your legal practice, it is essential to choose tools that align with your needs and uphold the highest standards of accuracy and privacy. While ChatGPT offers impressive capabilities in generating responses and processing text, its critical limitations (such as being an open network in standard versions, fabricated legal citations, and lack of medical domain expertise) make it unsuitable for sensitive legal work.
In contrast, dedicated AI platforms like Supio address these shortcomings. Supio is specifically designed to handle and analyze medical data, deliver reliable and verified insights, maintain HIPAA compliance, and ensure data security. Its focus on accurate, document-linked insights provides a superior solution for legal professionals dealing with complex case materials.
Supio offers what ChatGPT cannot:
- HIPAA compliance with signed BAAs
- 96.6% medical data extraction accuracy
- Human verification built into every workflow
- No page limits (analyze complete case files)
- Purpose-built outputs optimized for PI law
- $1B+ in proven settlement results
If you would like to learn more about what our platform could do for your firm and other tips for legal professionals who were previously utilizing AI platforms such as ChatGPT and need more out of their AI, call today to schedule a consultation.
The real question isn't "Can I use ChatGPT?" The real question is "Why would I use ChatGPT when there's a platform built specifically for personal injury law?"
References & Citations
- Legal AI Adoption Statistics: Thomson Reuters, "2025 Legal Industry Report: Generative AI Usage Among Legal Professionals" - Source
- California ChatGPT Sanctions Case: Park v. Kim, California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District (2024) - $10,000 sanctions for 21 fabricated AI-generated case citations - Source
- Mata v. Avianca Case: Mata v. Avianca, Inc., No. 22-cv-1461 (PKC) (S.D.N.Y. June 22, 2023) - Federal sanctions for six fabricated ChatGPT case citations - Source
- HIPAA Violation Penalties: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, HIPAA Enforcement - Maximum penalties up to $50,000 per violation - Source
- ABA Model Rule 1.6: American Bar Association, Model Rules of Professional Conduct - Confidentiality of Information - Source