By: John Villaseñor (Brookings Tech Tank)
The rise of Artificial intelligence (AI) will reshape the fundamental characteristics of the practice of law. While technological advancement has a long history of driving change in the legal profession, the arrival of alogrithmic and Machine Learning-powered models such as GPT-3 and GPT-4 is different in its ability to perform sophisticated writing and research tasks at a level of proficiency that would normally require highly educated and trained professionals to replicate. .
Law firms that are able to properly take advantage of emerging AI technologies will soon be capable of offering services at lower prices, while improving efficiency and success rates in litigation. Of course, those that fail to adapt to the new capabilities offered by AI will eventually find themselves unable to remain cost-competitive, losing clients and eroding away their ability to attract and retain talent.
EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS
As a n example, we can take one of the most time-consuming tasks in litigation: extracting structure, meaning, and salient information from massive sets of documents typically produced during the process of discovery. AI tech is able to do in seconds what a human clerk can do in weeks. Similarly, the drafting of motions or other documents can be greatly accelerated by using AI to very quickly produce initial drafts, citing the relevant case law, advancing arguments, and rebutting (as well as anticipating) arguments advanced by opposing counsel. Human input will still be needed to produce the final draft, but the process will be faster and more efficient with AI…
