Hello everyone, for my first discussion post I really wanted to speak on and perhaps hear some opinions on the future of the legal profession with the onset of AI and other technological advances. This a topic that is especially of interest to me because I worry if my future career could be at jeopardy with the over saturation (some would say) of the legal profession/lawyers in conjunction with rapidly advancing AI. In my internship position alone, I've noticed just how reliant we are becoming on technology. There is very little paper trail. We have monthly discussions of new softwares that we may want to use and a lot of them are doing the work of a lawyer in rapid time and with accuracy. In particular, we are seeing softwares that can find relevant cases, draft motions, and can easily give you arguments or reasons why a particular side should or should not win. We are now seeing more and more websites where you can pay a relatively small one time fee and have a will or llc or other contract/document drafted in the comfort of your own home. In a study done by researchers at Princeton University, they found that the industry most impacted by Chat GBT and other AI was legal services. (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.01157.pdf). I am interested to see how the legal profession changes as a whole in the coming years. We know that older attorneys especially are not the most welcoming to change or giving in to technology. Furthermore, I wonder how AI will affect the required billable hours as it will make associates much more productive in less amount of time.
Hi Melina,
ReplyDeleteAI definitely will transform the legal profession overtime. I am still interested to see the impact it has on the demand for lawyers itself, particularly now the stories that AI is allowing computers to represent people in traffic court.
I think that AI eventually replacing lawyers themselves may be a little overblown, sure AI can draft contracts, but it's human lawyers that are needed to interpret it and craft arguments. Also, the issue of trial attorneys I think the human touch is not something AI could do as well because that's where human discretion and creativity through legal skills can become so important. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what happens.
Hi Melina,
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with John that having AI replace actual human lawyers may be a little overblown. Me, personally, I do not think I would trust a computer in court to represent me. While I see how beneficial AI can be with drafting standard documents, and taking the burden of doing small tasks and guiding people in the direction with research, I think a real person doing the work and double checking is important. I am also interested in seeing the future of the field with the advancements of AI.
Melina,
ReplyDeleteMy office actually had me do some research a while back looking into AI and if it is something we should consider using. My take was that while the technology is surely revolutionary and has its benefits, I can't envision it beyond acting merely as a tool to assist lawyers. At least quite yet that is. Sure, AI can significantly cut down time on basic drafts, but it doesn't have the ability to think like lawyers do. I do not see AI taking jobs from attorney's, but I can see how it may help or maybe even accomplish some of the more basic tasks of attorneys giving them more time to handle the work that I believe AI is not capable of carrying out.