Thomson Reuters has unveiled what it refers to as the “next gen” CoCounsel artificial intelligence platform, initiating a significant shift from traditional AI responders towards agentic systems designed to plan, reason, and execute complex workflows in professional settings. The upcoming release, which promises advanced capabilities for the legal profession, aims to redefine how professionals engage with AI in their daily work.
During a preview at Thomson Reuters’ headquarters, David Wong, the chief product officer, highlighted that this agentic approach transcends incremental improvements, positioning it as a new standard in task execution within legal workflows. More than merely responding to prompts, the system is capable of understanding broader objectives and independently executing the steps required to meet them, thereby integrating seamlessly into legal professionals’ existing systems.
Utilizing this agentic AI, Thomson Reuters plans to roll out workflows for various legal tasks, including document drafting, deposition analysis, and compliance risk assessments. Emily Colbert, senior vice president of CoCounsel, demonstrated how this system will utilize guided workflows to assist legal professionals in completing complex processes more efficiently. According to Colbert, this technology is set to dramatically reduce the time needed for legal tasks such as document reviews and contract drafting by significant margins.
The development of this agentic platform, accelerated by the acquisition of Materia, has allowed Thomson Reuters to refine these capabilities for tax and accounting professionals. Already live in these sectors, the system shows promise for a legal rollout slated for this summer. Multimodal and multi-agent functionalities will allow professionals to navigate varied tasks using a multiplicity of models and tools rather than relying on a singular solution.
The company emphasizes the platform’s human-in-the-loop functionality, ensuring ongoing collaboration between users and the AI. This collaborative model incorporates over 20 billion documents within Thomson Reuters’ content library, aligned with enterprise-grade security standards, promising a secure yet powerful tool for legal professionals.
More about the Agentic CoCounsel AI release is expected as the summer approaches, potentially setting a new bar for AI integration in legal operations.