Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform many aspects of how we live and work, and will inevitably lead to change, some of which could be profound.
In this article, we look at how AI can help the in-house legal team – and how it affects the GC’s role across the wider organisation.
Artificial intelligence and the real life in-house legal team
From medicine to the military, transportation to finance and from robotics to regulation, AI is driving automation in almost all walks of life. It’s influencing the legal industry.
AI has actually been around for decades, but since the public release ChatGPT in November 2022, we have entered a new phase where change and the art of the possible has accelerated to a pace that is both exciting and slightly terrifying.
What is AI?
AI is actually an umbrella term for a range of overlapping technologies and approaches that enable a computer or machine to perform tasks and carry out operations that previously would have required human intelligence to complete them.
One way that AI can do this is by studying huge amounts of data sets and, by simulating human intelligence processes, learn from them. With this knowledge, AI can then start to relieve humans of a growing number of tasks.
This has led to AI having the power to:
- Learn: acquire raw data and creating algorithms that set rules for turning that then turn into information that is actionable.
- Reason: decide which algorithm is most suitable for achieving a desired outcome.
- Self-correct: fine-tune algorithms to continually improve accuracy.
- Create: blend neural networks, algorithms, statistical methodologies and other techniques to produce text, music, images – and even new ideas.
- Act independently: AI agents can be set to complete tasks automatically without being triggered by a human.
Some characteristics of AI to consider
When considering AI and its application, there are a number of characteristics to bear in mind:
- Scope: AI covers a wide range of applications and underlying technologies – it is not just ChatGPT.
- Evolution: AI is constantly evolving at a very fast pace and the scope of what is usually defined as AI also changes – things that were considered AI in the past might not always be considered AI today.
- Hype: AI is still subject to significant levels of hyperbole and noise, driven by strong positive and negative views, marketing messages from vendors and heavy media coverage.
- Risk: AI still comes with a lot of different risks from data privacy to hallucinations and beyond.
- Regulation: the regulation of AI is still emergent and evolving.
- Dependencies: for AI to be effective in organisations – particularly for more advanced tasks – there are sometimes dependencies around having accurate data and content which requires foundational work.
- Cost: AI can be expensive, and it also has a considerable environmental impact.
- Other options: AI is transformational, but AI is not always the answer for every problem.
How can AI help my in-house legal function?
In a nutshell, AI can streamline time-consuming tasks. This can reduce the amount of manual and low-value work for in-house legal teams and free up precious time for higher value work.
What AI cannot do is replace the expertise, strategic thinking or judgement of experienced lawyers who know the unique challenges and goals of their organisations.
While the opportunities and potential for AI is vast, success is not always a given. Adopting AI for individuals and teams can be a learning curve; it can take some time to get used to and to work out the best use cases.
AI’s potential is also sometimes putting pressure on business support functions, including the in-house legal team, to be more productive, with leadership keen to see an ROI on their investment in AI.
What areas can AI help with?
If you’re looking to take the first steps with AI in your legal function, good places to start could include:
- Streamlining basic admin: AI can help with admin tasks such as generating automatic minutes for meetings, drafting emails and summarising documents.
- Legal research and due diligence: as well as saving time, AI tools that help you conduct research, analyse case law, identify relevant statutes and regulations can give you the insights you need to make informed decisions.
- Contract automation: AI can automate the generation of standardised documents such as non-disclosure agreements and employment contracts. This can increase efficiency and consistency across contracts.
- Document review and contract management: using a technique called natural language processing (NLP) AI can review legal documents. As well as speeding the process up, this can identify risks and improve contract management.
- Risk assessment and compliance: because AI can analyse enormous amounts of data, including regulatory changes, case precedents and industry trends, it can give you real-time risk alerts and compliance recommendations.
- Data privacy and security: you can use AI to identify sensitive data, monitor data breaches and help create privacy policies and procedures.
- E-discovery and litigation support: AI can review and categorise electronic documents. Predictive analytics, meanwhile, can help assess case outcomes, develop litigation strategies and manage electronic evidence.
- Cost and operational analysis: AI has the potential to track operational and cost data relating to the in-house function and analyse it to make subsequent improvements.
- Strategic decision-making: AI-driven analytics and predictive modelling can inform decisions around legal strategy, litigation risk and compliance planning. It can identify patterns and show potential outcomes. All this can help you draft strategic recommendations for senior management.
AI in your wider organisation
Even if you’re not planning to use AI in the legal function any time soon, other parts of your organisation will already be using AI.
You will need to keep on top of the constantly evolving AI landscape and the legal and ethical implications of its use. Colleagues will look to legal for advice, so you will almost certainly need to develop guidelines and policies for areas such as:
- Responsible adoption of AI – particularly regarding sensitive data.
- Compliance with existing and emerging regulations.
- Ethical questions related to AI technology and its impacts.
- Legal risks associated with the use of AI.
Specifically, the kind of outputs where GCs provide essential input include:
- Formal ethical frameworks that govern AI usage and can be provided to customers and employees.
- Terms of usage and related guidelines relating to employee use of AI.
- Procurement and due diligence policies and processes on the use of AI in technology products, from generative AI to recruitment platforms and beyond.
Overall GCs can play a critical role in helping organisations balance the potential rewards from AI, with the considerable risks that come with it.
AI won’t change the need for GCs to remain predominantly generalists. However, it adds another discipline that you’ll need to be knowledgeable about, both in terms of its capabilities and its limitations. Depending on the nature of your organisation, it may be advisable to recruit an AI subject matter expert into your team.
Conclusion
AI is still a fast-moving space and there is a great deal of change to navigate. To a certain extent there is an element of “watch this space” as new opportunities and challenges emerge.
But overall, AI represents an exciting opportunity for GCs. AI has the potential to free up time for GCs so they can play a more strategic role in organisations. They can also provide the balanced, sensible and credible voice that business leaders and employees need in a time of profound change, as well as help organisations to swerve around some of the associated pitfalls and risks.