In part 2 of this series, I explored some common use cases for AI in legal – to help in-house legal teams understand how intelligent contract insight can become a reality.
Today I’m going to bust some of the common myths that I’ve seen get in the way of legal teams making good use of AI solutions.
I want to briefly pause for thought on the use of the term “Artificial Intelligence”. The terminology itself is part of the root cause behind some of the myths below and the ‘disconnect’ I explored in the earlier articles. It’s a sales spin. The mechanics behind the scenes don’t matter to the end users – they don’t care whether it is ‘machine learning algorithms’ or ‘programmed logic’ producing their results – they just want the outcome. However, the use of the phrase ‘Artificial Intelligence’ often sets an unrealistic expectation – and sometimes is simply wrong. In most cases, we could just call it “intelligent search” instead…
On to the myths!
IT'S EXPENSIVE
It doesn’t need to be. There are lots of tech options and many corporates have access to AI solutions in existing technologies such as CLMs as well as within native solutions such as Microsoft Cognitive Search, but just aren’t utilising them. For specific projects, technology partners like SYKE can provide ‘extraction as a service’, so there is no need for corporates to actually make a tech investment.
YOU NEED TO RECRUIT AN ARMY OF EXPERTS
If the tools have been configured and implemented properly at the outset, they can be self-sufficient. Further configuration to tweak models or build new concepts can be done periodically. SYKE have developed expertise and methodologies which transfer between technologies and can effectively be bought on a pay-as-you-go basis.
IT ALWAYS TAKES A LONG TIME TO IMPLEMENT
As with all tech, this pivots on the design. Many tools have great out of the box functionality. New concepts and AI models can be developed relatively quickly – in a matter of days. An iterative approach to the design and roll out of the wider process is key to generating short-term ROI.
HUMANS ARE CHEAPER AND QUICKER
This typically boils down to the use case and making sure that you are using the right tool for the right job. Many large-scale reviews are best delivered with a combination of people and tech. SYKE recently delivered a tech-enabled 20,000 document review for a client which saved around 6,500 human hours, at a fraction of the cost of an alternate human-centric law firm approach.
IT WILL REPLACE LAWYERS' JOBS
It won’t. Certainly not in my lifetime. As with most other tech, it will augment and supplement what lawyers do – enabling them to focus on more valuable tasks.
IT'S NOT ``ACCURATE`` ENOUGH
Lawyers often have a fixation on requiring AI review platforms to achieve 100% accuracy. The wake-up call sometimes needed is the harsh reminder that their human teams will NOT achieve that. Studies have shown direct comparisons and benchmarking where AI has achieved 94% accuracy (in seconds) where lawyers achieved 85% (in 90 minutes).
So, don’t be put off by the sceptics and the myths. Technology can provide incredibly powerful and valuable insights into your documents and contracts through the use of ‘intelligent search’. As with all other tech, it’s essential to use the right tool for the right job and leverage off the experience of others. (Are you sensing a theme here?!)
If you’re interested in exploring the opportunities presented by “AI”, join me at my virtual Roundtable event on 9 November where I’ll be teaming up with DocuSign and Unilever to discuss why more legal teams should consider using AI for due diligence exercises – and how to go about it. Sign up here.
Jonny is an expert in delivering and leading legal innovation and automation projects, having previously led the innovation function at global law firm DWF. Jonny leads our data services practice and has a track record of helping clients to enable insight-driven decision making from their data.
Jonny has supported FTSE 100 companies with the implementation of AI technologies and has supported one of the largest global legal technology companies with the development of AI models for its market-leading platform. A lawyer by background, Jonny leads a team of highly skilled legal engineers operating in multiple jurisdictions.
