AI’s effect on the legal sector: benefits and drawbacks

Technological revolutions typically have a limited impact on the legal profession due to the industry’s entrenched resistance to change. The legal profession largely continues to operate in much the same way as it did in the past. Technology rarely provides substantial support for legal solutions, such as the development of litigation programs and judicial judgements, which makes the replacement of legal practitioners more challenging. However, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is expected to change this landscape.

As a technology striving to comprehend human intelligence and replicate and build upon it, artificial intelligence can effectively handle tasks like information gathering, organising and implementing regulations. It can also simulate the process of legal reasoning by creating a theoretically sound computational model that generates answers and the corresponding rationale for legal issues presented.

AI is also challenged when it comes to making choices in legal problems where the law is ambiguous or non-existent. This is a big problem because AI usually learns from data that already exists. Heuristic or probabilistic approaches may be used by AI systems, which may result in erroneous or ambiguous conclusions. Creating AI systems that can create their own data through trial and error - a process known as reinforcement learning - is one way to overcome this difficulty.

Artificial Intelligence has both positive and negative aspects. Like any other technical advancement, AI has a number of advantages and disadvantages of its own. It has great promise for the legal industry. There has always been a link to a certain amount of resistance towards adopting technological innovations in legal profession not just in Pakistan but throughout the world. But given that AI has the potential to affect many other types of jobs, it is not surprising that young lawyers are particularly interested in the latest advancements in this area.

According to the LexisNexis 2023 Survey Report, with 86% of lawyers stating they are familiar with generative AI technologies like ChatGPT, generative AI has gained significant traction in the legal community. Compared to the general consumer community, which is represented by 57% of the population, lawyers have a greater awareness rate.

Moreover, there is a clear age-based disparity in awareness, with 82% of attorneys 45 and older do not know about generative AI, compared to nearly 98% of attorneys under 45. Additionally, according to the survey, 92% of law students and 89% of attorneys think that generative AI would affect legal practice in some way. Of them, 46% of law students and 39% of solicitors think the influence will be profound or revolutionary. The ABA Legal Technological survey reveals that an average 8% of lawyers have been using AI based technology tools in the US.

According to a Bloomberg Law survey conducted in the US in 2019, 54% of lawyers reported that they did not use AI and ML in their legal practice. By August 2023, the growth and use of AI increased in the legal sector up to 75%.

AI’s benefits for the legal industry include the capacity to automate boring and repetitive processes like contract analysis and document screening. Legal practitioners can focus on more complicated and high-value tasks by utilising AI technologies to save time and resources. To speed up the review process, for example, legal companies and organisations are using AI-powered software to sift through enormous amounts of papers and find pertinent information.

As a result, manual document analysis now takes a lot less time and effort, freeing up legal professionals’ skills for more complicated cases. In a similar vein, AI has been applied to contract analysis, identifying possible hazards and discrepancies and offering attorneys insightful information for bargaining and decision-making. Recent advancements in AI have debunked previous assumptions that AI would struggle to grasp the complexities and subtleties of language, as well as the expertise exhibited by top-tier lawyers. Contrary to these assumptions, some scholars assert that AI has the potential to enhance legal services, education, and accessibility to justice, all while minimising costs.

These developments in AI technology present new possibilities for the legal profession and signify a major shift in the way legal services can be delivered. Predictions are that by 2029, computers will possess the capacity to exhibit human-like thinking. This anticipated milestone indicates a potential future where computers surpass human capabilities across various domains.

Prior to AI becoming extensively used in the legal industry, it is critical to resolve these worries. AI, however, has the potential to be a formidable tool for justice if applied properly. It can aid in lowering the backlog of cases, enhancing the judiciary’s effectiveness, and increasing everyone’s access to justice. It is critical to create methods that allow for efficient oversight and auditability of AI systems in order to address concerns about accountability and transparency in AI decision-making. The creation of standards and regulatory frameworks can help accomplish this.

It is essential to establish thorough ethical norms and guidelines tailored to AI applications in the legal sector. These rules ought to cover things like protecting privacy, fairness, and reducing bias. AI systems should be designed and developed with ethical considerations in mind to make sure they respect legal requirements, societal values, and human rights principles. Robust ethical frameworks can be formulated through interdisciplinary collaborations between policymakers, legal scholars, and AI researchers.

Investments in the ongoing development and enhancement of AI systems are crucial, as AI-generated replies have the potential to contain faults and inaccuracies. It is the responsibility of researchers and developers to concentrate on improving the accuracy and dependability of AI models by using solid training data and continuing validation and monitoring.

AI specialists, legal professionals, and subject matter experts can work together to design AI systems that yield more accurate and consistent outcomes. It is essential to raise public awareness and encourage participation in the application of AI in the legal sector. Informing people about AI’s possible applications, constraints, and capabilities can influence public opinion and encourage thoughtful debate.

Involving stakeholders in policy discussions and decision-making processes, such as the general public, civil society organisations, and legal experts, can also guarantee that different viewpoints are taken into account and democratic ideals are maintained.

The tram dilemma provides an interesting scenario to study the difficulties in programming AI systems to make equitable and just decisions in legal circumstances when the law is ambiguous or non-existent in the context of our research question. It clarifies the drawbacks and difficulties of depending exclusively on AI to make moral decisions in legal situations, highlighting the need for human supervision, legal knowledge, and ethical frameworks to guarantee justice and fairness.