Can I use ChatGPT to write a contract?

Yes — as a starting point. A chatbot can draft a passable first version from a short brief, but it does not know your deal, it can produce confident but wrong clauses, and it does not handle negotiation or agreement. You are still responsible for the words you send and sign.

TL;DR — Use ChatGPT to sketch the structure and plain wording, then check the parts it cannot guess (parties, scope, money, IP, risk, exits, governing lawgoverning lawGoverning law is the legal system the parties choose to interpret their contract and decide disputes about it.More in the glossary) and agree the changes with your client on one link. For e-signaturese-signatureAn e-signature is any electronic way of showing agreement to a document, such as a typed name, a drawn signature or a click.More in the glossary, see /blog/is-an-electronic-signature-legally-binding.

If you want a tool built for two sides to draft, redlineredlineA redline is a proposed edit on a draft contract — words added, struck out or rewritten — not a signed change.More in the glossary and sign one shared version, that is what Contracts.io does. Lex drafts; both sides agree and e-sign one frozen copy. The other side never pays.

A contract is not valid or invalid because a chatbot wrote the first draft. What matters is that both sides agree to the same terms, and that any formalities are met.

• E-signing works for simple contracts. In England and Wales, an electronic signature is admissible in evidence on any question about authenticity or integrity (Electronic Communications Act 2000, s.7), and the Law Commission says an e-signature is capable in law of executing a document where the signer intends to authenticate it and formalities are met (sources below).
• A deeddeedA deed is a formal written document that meets special signing rules, commonly used where one side gives nothing in return.More in the glossary is the main exception you will meet. In England and Wales, a deed still needs a witness physically present, including if it is signed electronically. A simple agreement does not need a witness; a deed does.

So the practical test is the same whether you start from a template, a chatbot or your own blank page: do the words match the deal, and have both sides agreed and signed the same version?

General chatbots are trained on public text, not on your work with your client. Common misses:

• Scope sounds tidy but is vague. It lists activities, not deliverables. That is how “website design” becomes three extra landing pages.
• Payment timing is generic. “Payable within 30 days” with no starting point. Net 30, net 14, on receipt shows why the start date matters.
• Ownership is unclear. It may hand over IP on delivery rather than on payment, or forget pre-existing materials and third-party licences.
• Liability reads like a big-company template. Caps that do not match the fee, or carve-outs that make the cap meaningless. In England and Wales, liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence cannot be excluded or restricted by a contract term, and other negligence liability can be limited only so far as the term is reasonable (Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, s.2).
• JurisdictionjurisdictionJurisdiction is which courts will hear a dispute if the parties cannot agree.More in the glossary is guessed. “This agreement is governed by the laws of California” appears for a UK studio with a UK client.
• It invents clauses to look complete. A non-competenon-competeA non-compete is a promise not to do similar work for a competitor, or in a named market, for a period after the job.More in the glossary or “work for hirework for hireWork for hire is a phrase, common on US-style papers, meaning the client is treated as the author and owner of the work from the start.More in the glossary” copied from another country's template. Check the clauses fit the law you've chosen.

None of these are bad faith. They are guesses. Your job is to replace each guess with a decision the two of you actually made.

Give it the decisions, not just the job title. A short, factual brief works better than lawyerly prompts:

1. Parties: your full name and address; the client’s full legal name, number and address.
2. Kind: one of “mutual NDAmutual NDAA mutual NDA is a confidentiality agreement where both sides share information and both promise to keep it private.More in the glossary”, “freelancer agreement”, “services agreement”, “statement of workstatement of workA statement of work (SOW) is a document that describes the specific work, deliverables, timeline and fees for one project.More in the glossary”, “retainerretainerA retainer is an arrangement where a client pays a regular fee to secure a set amount of time or ongoing access to a supplier.More in the glossary” or “offer letter”.
3. Scope: the deliverables as a numbered list; what is out of scope.
4. Payment: the fee model, the payment terms and the starting point for the clock.
5. Ownership: assignment on payment, or a licence with limits.
6. Risk: a liability capliability capA liability cap is the maximum amount one party can be asked to pay the other under a contract.More in the glossary, and whether any indemnitiesindemnityAn indemnity is a promise to cover another party's losses arising from a particular event or claim.More in the glossary are mutual or capped.
7. Exit: notice, termination triggers, and what is paid for work done.
8. Law: the governing law you and the client agree to use.

Ask for “short clauses in plain English beside legal wording”, because you will be editing this with a human. If a draft comes back longer than you need, ask it to keep one idea per sentence and cut filler.

If you would rather not juggle prompts, describe the deal in one sentence on /ai-contract-generator and edit on the paper itself. The other side redlines on the same link.

A quick checklist that catches most errors a chatbot cannot know:

• Parties. Full legal names, company numbers and addresses.
• Scope. Deliverables as nouns; what is out of scope; a defined acceptance step.
• Payment termspayment termsPayment terms say how much is paid, when the clock starts, and what happens if an invoice is late.More in the glossary. Amounts, invoicing points, days to pay and the starting point.
• Ownership. When IP transfersIP assignmentAn IP assignment is a transfer of ownership in the work, so the client owns it instead of the person who made it.More in the glossary (usually on payment), what stays licensed, and portfolio use.
• Liability. A clear limitation of liability and any indemnities.
• Termination. Notice, breach and what is paid for work done.
• Governing law and jurisdiction. One place you both recognise.

For a fuller walkthrough, start with /guides/how-to-write-a-contract and /guides/freelance-and-contractor-agreements. If your client has already redlined your draft, see /guides/your-client-redlined-your-contract.

A general chatbot writes text. A two-sided contracts tool is where both sides draft, negotiate and agree one shared version, then e-sign it. That difference shows up in the steps:

• Drafting. Describe the deal; the tool inserts your details and the usual clauses for that kind of work, in plain English beside legal wording.
• Negotiation. The client’s lawyer marks redlines on the same link. You Accept, Counter or Decline each change on the paper, and every version is kept.
• Agreement. When the words are agreed, both sides e-sign one frozen copy. Guests do not need an account and never pay.

On Contracts.io this is the default flow. It is built for the B2B jobs studios and freelancers do every week, not for consumer click-throughs or one-off PDFs.

Treat anything you paste into a public chatbot as if you are publishing it to a service provider. If the text includes client names, pricing or unreleased plans, ask yourself whether you would email that to a third-party helpdesk.

Practical options:

• Remove names and numbers in the prompt, then put them back in your editor.
• Use a tool built for contracts. On Contracts.io your draft lives on one link you share with the client. For how we handle contract text and logs, see /trust.
• Check the provider’s published policy before you paste sensitive details.

Do not paste personal data you are not allowed to share. If a client sends you their paper, prefer to work on a share link rather than pasting their whole contract into a public model.

A fair, short comparison:

None of these exclude the others. Many teams start a draft in a tool, then ask a solicitor to review the result for a specific job.

Open a share link, paste their clause in and Counter with your wording on the paper, so there is one version to review. The usual counters:

• Net 60Net 60Net 60 means the client has 60 days from the invoice date to pay.More in the glossary back to Net 30Net 30Net 30 means the client has 30 days from the invoice date to pay.More in the glossary, or a pause-work line if an invoice is overdue.
• IP transfer on payment, not on delivery; licencelicenceA licence is permission to use work in an agreed way, without taking ownership away from the person who made it.More in the glossary for your pre-existing materialspre-existing materialsPre-existing materials are tools, libraries or work the supplier already owned, which are licensed for the job rather than handed over.More in the glossary.
• A real revision limitrevision limitA revision limit says how many rounds of changes are included in the fee before extra work is quoted.More in the glossary and a change process for new work.

If they already emailed a PDF, you can still start from a /templates/freelancer-agreement or /templates/statement-of-work and put their asks in as counters, so your payment and ownership terms stay the starting point.