‘The scope of AI is almost limitless. There is no part of our operations in 40 countries that cannot be touched by an AI tool.’
Speaking at the Legal Business AI Summit this March, Alex Galtieri, deputy GC at Colt Technology Services, highlighted AI’s huge potential for disruption.
A statement like this would have seemed like hyperbole to most prior to the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, but that platform’s accessibility has had a democratising effect that has pushed AI beyond the tech department and into every part of the business, from comms to the boardroom.
But with accessibility comes complexity. ‘We’ve been using AI for a long time, but the risks are being discussed a lot more now due to the prevalence of generative AI. It’s a step change from the previous predictive AI, and therefore amplifies the risks,’ said Daisy Godfrey, head of legal, group digital and data protection at Aviva – underscoring the fundamental shift in business operations and legal oversight that gen AI has caused.
A map to success
Other speakers at the summit highlighted the importance of clearly mapping out the different ways AI is being used within organisations, as noted by Informa AI governance manager Federico Marengo (pictured right): ‘If you don’t know how it is being used, you can’t consider the risk.’
Meanwhile, Crafty Counsel founder Ben White observed that while AI can help navigate governance, such as identifying who is responsible for signing a contract in a large organisation, it doesn’t let you off the hook when it comes to setting up clear and effective guidance in the first place.
‘If AI is, in the short term, going to replace 50% or more of what your lawyers are doing today, you probably aren’t set up right’
Barbara Zapisetskaya, principal counsel (technology) at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (pictured right), also underlined the need for clarity when defining who has responsibility for driving AI adoption and implementing AI strategy, as opposed to the people responsible for ensuring AI use adheres to governance frameworks.
Not so Wild West?
Another key point of discussion was the consequences of the current lack of cohesive AI law and signposts as to where future AI regulations might be heading
Simon McDougall, chief strategist for privacy and AI at ZoomInfo, pushed back against the suggestion that the UK is a ‘Wild West’ for AI, noting that much of AI is already covered by existing regulations such as GDPR, even if it was not originally drafted with AI in mind.
In terms of the future direction of travel, Fountain Court barrister Jacob Turner (pictured right) – the author of Robot Rules: Regulating Artificial Intelligence – highlighted recent statements from Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer emphasising economic growth in discussions with regulators, and asked whether this implied a tension between regulatory scrutiny and productivity, while also noting that the strength of the heavily regulated financial industry shows that high regulation does not have to be synonymous with low growth.
Quantifying the benefits
On the unexpected consequences of AI, Boston Consulting Group managing legal counsel Luis de Freitas gave the example of an automated tool with a human in the loop that his firm had introduced for NDAs.
As 80% of the review process was accurate, it freed up 50% more time for lawyers. The company ran a survey and found an 85% satisfaction score on the results and also an increase in job satisfaction for the lawyers using the tool.
There was, unsurprisingly, general agreement that the ability to automate routine tasks will enable lawyers to offer more value. Shanthini Satyendra, vice-chair of the AI Committee at the Society for Computers and Law, suggested strategy as one such area. ‘Lawyers are called in once strategy is set, but they can add a lot in terms of problem definition and clarifying key issues vital to success,’ she said.
Matthew Wilson, chief legal officer at Fremantle (pictured right) pointed out that as AI’s impact is constantly evolving, lawyers are well-positioned within businesses to help navigate its uncertainties, including regulatory changes and ethical concerns. Alluding to the wider role that lawyers can and should play, he said: ‘If AI is, in the short term, going to replace 50% or more of what your lawyers are doing today, you probably aren’t set up right, and are not getting the right value from the team.’
A final piece of food for thought was provided by White, who speculated that the growing financial firepower in legal technology would lead to a legal tech acquiring a meaningful-sized law firm within the next two years.
And while not everyone at the summit was convinced, one thing that AI’s rapid growth has surely shown us is the danger of discounting the improbable.
