| | FEBRUARY 201919CIOReviewFor at least the last decade legal industry observers and technology professionals have been talking about utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to provide higher quality/lower cost legal services. However, progress in the development and adoption of usable AI has been very slow and AI has yet to make much of a dent. This article discusses the reasons for that and the likely path for change moving forward so that the tremendous potential benefits of AI can start to be realized in the legal industry.Impediments to the Adoption of AI and How to Overcome ThemThere have been at least three primary impediments to the adoption of AI in the law:· Legal Services Are Very Complicated: Much of the advicelawyers give not only requires careful analysis and judgement, but also is extremely tailored to the specific facts and circumstances in each situation. The creation of an AI system that could model and/or replace expert human judgement requires either the definition of exact rules experts follow when making decisions (expert systems), or a data set of past experiences and outcomes from which the system "figures out" rules--(machine learning). Some AI systems rely on a combination of both rules and machine learning. The development of precise rules can be expensive because it requires considerable time investments from highly-skilled and knowledgeable human experts--and sometimes those experts themselves cannot identify or properly weigh all of the factors that go into their subjective decision-making. Conversely, learning from data often requires sizeable data sets of recorded experience that may not be readily available. A big part of the answer is to focus AI development on legal services where there are clearly defined tasks and data for the AI to build off of--examples include technology assisted review of documents ("TAR" or "predictive coding") for relevance to particular litigation or litigation issues, and technology assisted contract classification or drafting.· Profit Incentives Have Been Mixed: In any profession itcan be difficult to get workers excited about developing the technology that can theoretically replace them. Most outside lawyers still get paid by the hour, and developing technology to replace lawyer hours can make law firms less profitable rather than more profitable, at least in the short-run. However, that may be changing as companies continue to demand more value from their outside lawyers and push for pricing models beyond the traditional hourly rate. Industry expert Kevin D. Ashley, Professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Law School and Graduate School in Intelligent Systems, notes that that technology will enhance, not replace, human lawyers in the foreseeable future. See Ashley, K.D., Artificial Intelligence and Legal Analytics: New Tools for Law Practice in the Digital Age (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Likewise, innovative law firms are starting to realize that, if they can "build a better mousetrap" that delivers more client value, they will attract more client work, and ultimately earn greater profits.· Technology Vendors CannotPractice Law: In some other fields, technology ADOPTING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE PROVISION OF LEGAL SERVICESBy David R. Cohen, Partner, Reed Smith LLP and Jaromir Savelka, Data Scientist, Reed Smith LLPJaromir Savelka
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