AI in Legal Blogging Experiment Reviewed

Following a report on the role of artificial intelligence in blogging, (round-up, 22 January 2023), we posted “ A brief experiment in legal blogging using AI ” which was produced with the aid of ChatGPT. Although this yielded “quite impressive” copy, it indicated the importance of the formulation of the questions, and at that time it appeared as though we would continue writing content the traditional way at least for the immediate future. Three years on, we consider whether these conclusions are still valid with regard to our posts on L&RUK.

Background

Prompted by an observation on the now extensive use of AI by many search engines, we examined some recent reviews on this use and as a stand-alone investigative tool [1 ]. Search engines now rely on AI at almost every stage of the search process—from understanding the query, to ranking results, to generating summaries. Around half of Google searches already include AI‑generated summaries, and this is expected to rise to over 75% by 2028 [2 ]. Furthermore, s earch engines no longer match keywords—they interpret meaning, intent, and context using large language models (LLMs). For example, they now understanding conversational questions (“Why is my broadband slow today?”), interpreting ambiguous queries; and personalising results based on past behaviour. This development is important as few have been aware of how AI has been shaping their internet searches.

With regard to the stand-alone use of AI search tools, a Which? survey undertaken in 2025 found an AI usage of 75% among 18–34s, but only 24% among over‑65s [3 ]. 51% of UK adults use AI search tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, &c) in their personal lives; and ChatGPT is the most used AI search tool, with 47% of adults having tried it. Microsoft’s Copilot accounted for % in this survey, but there are important differences between ChatGPT and Copilot, v infra.

ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot

ChatGPT is a “general‑purpose conversational AI built by OpenAI, which is optimized for creativity, reasoning, brainstorming, coding, and Q&A”. Microsoft Copilot is “a productivity‑focused AI embedded across Microsoft 365, Windows, Edge, and GitHub, designed to understand documents, emails, meetings, and organisational data”. Analysts expect the two to coexist rather than replace each other; many organisations deploy Copilot for productivity and ChatGPT for creativity and problem‑solving [4 ], [5 ], [6 ].

Copyright

The use of AI inevitably raises the question of copyright of the material generated. Unlike the United States, the UK is unusual in having a statutory category for “computer‑generated works” under s9 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA), which allows authorship to be assigned by legal fiction where no human creator exists—enabling such works to meet the basic conditions for protection.

9 Authorship of work.

[…]

(3) In the case of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which is computer-generated, the author shall be taken to be the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken.

Syn Ong notes [7 ]: “despite being on the statute books for over three decades, Section 9(3) CDPA has received remarkably little judicial interpretation. In fact, with only two cases of note, there is a limit to how much doctrinal clarity one can extract from the case law”.

Conclusions

There have been important changes in the use of Artificial Intelligence since our first posts in 2023. Nevertheless, the conclusions we reached then, notably the careful formulation of the questions when seeking information via AI, remain unchanged. However, the results from a search engine may be more nuanced by its own use of AI. For the choice between ChatGBT and Copilot, it is evident that the latter gives a response more tailored to earlier work with Microsoft 365 and one’s perceived areas of interest. Furthermore, the use/links to primary sources becomes even more important. Likewise, the 4,000 plus posts on the blog are a potential resource for others to access.

[1 ] Microsoft Copilot was asked three questions: “ How extensively do modern search engines use AI?”, “ ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot?” and “ Who owns the copyright of AI output?” These provided an overview, and links to references used, see [2] to [6].

[2 ] McKinsey & Company: New front door to the internet: Winning in the age of AI search,16 October 2025.

[3 ] Which? survey, 2025: Consumer use and attitudes towards AI search tools ; Yonder, on behalf of Which?, conducted an online survey of 4,189 nationally representative adults aged 18+ between 10th and 14th September 2025.

[4 ] Institution Labs: ChatGPT vs. Copilot: An Enterprise Feature Comparison (2025), (updated 20 March 2026).

[5 ] United Nations University (UNU), Japan. Why Users Still Prefer ChatGPT Over Microsoft Copilot in 2025: The Technical Reality, (21 October 2025).

[6 ] Flexmind: ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot: Key Differences You Need to Know in 2026, (17 September 2025).

[7 ] Syn Ong, Authors’ Alliance: The UK’s Curious Case of Copyright for AI-Generated Works: What Section 9(3), (19 May 2015).

Cite this article as: David Pocklington, "A further examination of AI in legal blogging" in Law & Religion UK, 26 March 2026, https://lawandreligionuk.com/2026/03/26/a-further-examination-of-ai-in-legal-blogging/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment *

Name *

Email *

Website

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.