Last week at ILTACON 2023, a conference centered around the intersection of law and technology, it was evident that we are living through a transformative period in the realm of legal technology. Conversations teemed with intrigue around the vast potential – and the significant challenges – posed by the integration of generative AI into legal workflows.
Highlights from ILTACON 2023 spanned an array of newly released or beta technologies that aim to reshape the future of legal tech. A hot topic of discussion: the applications of generative AI within the sector.
According to the Global Legal Generative AI Survey by LexisNexis, research is the primary use case for generative AI tools among 65% of international lawyers. Other common applications include drafting documents (56%), analyzing documents (44%), and email writing (35%).
Despite the enthusiasm, the Everlaw Ediscovery Innovation Report revealed a more skeptical perspective in the legal industry regarding the readiness for generative AI. Only 6% of respondents felt the industry is adequately prepared for the advent of generative AI.
Generative AI, while promising, still presents issues, one of the major being ‘hallucinations’ or errors generated by current versions. Some notable announcements at ILTACON tackle this and other problems:
- LexisNexis CEO Jeff Pfeiffer, shared news of Lexis + AI, a generative AI product currently in beta release, expected to go live at the end of September. The tool will be capable of answering legal questions, summarizing case opinions, and drafting documents.
- Everlaw announced its generative AI functionality in AI Assistant that can summarize documents, answer queries, and provide writing assistance.
- DISCO revealed AI Timelines, a tool capable of autonomously constructing timelines from legal documents.
- LiquidText, a platform specializing in document analysis, reading, and note-taking, aims to integrate its functionalities with iManage Work for a streamlined workflow.
- NetDocuments expanded its AI-equipped app suite with features such as content summarization, agreement revision, and document information extraction.
The atmosphere was electrifying at ILTACON this year, reflecting the growing enthusiasm and optimism toward the transformative potential of generative AI in the legal profession. For legal tech observers and practitioners worldwide, the future certainly looks rife with promise.