Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a multifaceted concept that receives varied definitions. Some characterize it as a human-created technology aimed at streamlining tasks, ensuring faster and more efficient outcomes. Others are of the opinion that AI is a technology developed by humans to enable computers and machines to function effectively. In essence, AI represents an intelligence crafted by humans and manifested through machines. Its integration into our daily lives has notably expedited and improved various aspects of our work.
The intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Law forms an interdisciplinary field with promising prospects. AI holds significant potential to augment the efforts of lawyers and legal professionals. Key applications in the legal domain encompass document automation, contract review, legal research, legal analytics, and, albeit controversially, litigation prediction. Despite the numerous advantages AI brings, a noteworthy drawback lies in the potential displacement of human professionals due to the substitution of manual labour by AI technology. This issue raises concerns about unemployment within certain professions.
This research paper attempts to bring into light about the advantages and disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence in the field of law and what it has to offer in the field of law in the coming future.
Keywords
Artificial Intelligence, Legal documentation, Data privacy, Lawyers.
Introduction
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has ushered in a transformative shift within the legal field, renowned for its intricacies, extensive documentation, and ever-evolving regulatory landscape. Recent years have witnessed the emergence of AI technologies with the potential to revolutionize various facets of the legal profession. These tools possess unparalleled capabilities to enhance decision-making, streamline processes, and fundamentally reshape the legal services industry—a development that is truly remarkable.
Artificial intelligence serves as a catalyst, addressing challenges faced by legal professionals dealing with expanding volumes of data, documents, and information. Within the legal domain, AI holds the promise of augmenting human capabilities across diverse fields, including document review, legal research, and e-discovery, fostering a more responsive and adaptable legal ecosystem. This research paper aims to scrutinize the myriad applications of AI in law, focusing on how these technologies influence practices and shape the evolution of legal frameworks.
As we embark on this inquiry into AI within the legal domain, it is crucial to assess how these technological advancements align with established legal norms, ethical standards, and societal expectations. Through this exploration, we aim not only to unravel the transformative possibilities of AI in the legal arena but also to navigate the moral and legal frameworks governing the intersection of justice and technology responsibly.
Research Methodology
This research paper is descriptive and the qualitative research is based on secondary sources for the in-depth examination of the advantages and disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence in legal field. The secondary sources of information like journals, websites, online databases, books, research paper and reports are used for the research.
Review of Literature
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ability of machines to do tasks like perception, learning and reasoning that are normally performed by humans. Artificial intelligence (AI) that allows machines to learn and perform better without explicit programming is known as machine learning. Natural language processing (NLP) is a branch of artificial intelligence that studies how computers and natural language interact. Previous studies have shown how AI has the potential to completely transform the legal industry. For instance, a 2017 study by Katz et al. used machine learning algorithms to forecast Supreme Court case outcomes with a 70.2% accuracy rate. Using natural language processing (NLP), Aletras et al. (2016) achieved a 79% accuracy rate in forecasting the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights.
Legal research is one area in which AI has made significant advancements. Legal research has come a long way since the days when law students and associates needed to read through heavy casebooks to find relevant precedent. Today, most lawyers use online legal research platforms like LexisNexis or Westlaw that utilize AI technology. In recent years, even more advanced legal research platforms that incorporate more modern AI technologies have been developed.One example is ROSS Intelligence. ROSS Intelligence launched in 2018 and advertises itself as “the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney.” The program costs $69 per month on an annual plan,and is being used by several big law firms including Baker Hostetler, Latham & Watkins, Jackson Lewis, and Dentons . The main way ROSS Intelligence differs from older legal research platforms like LexisNexis and Westlaw is in its ability to
generate search results from natural language queries. Westlaw and Lexis’ standard functions are only capable of generating search results based on keywords or Boolean searches.
Critics of AI’s application in the legal field do exist, though. While some contend that the employment of AI could result in the replacement of human judges and attorneys, others express concerns about bias in AI algorithms and the possibility of mistakes being made during the decision-making process.
SOME APPLICATIONS OF AI IN LEGAL FIELD
- A Supreme Court Portal enhanced by AI
An innovative stride in the realm of Indian judiciary, the Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency (SUPACE), represents a significant integration of artificial intelligence to enhance the efficiency of judges and legal researchers. Aimed at reducing case backlogs and improving productivity, SUPACE serves as an AI-enabled assistive tool. Judges and legal researchers can leverage its capabilities to efficiently extract relevant information, peruse case files, facilitate teamwork, and draft case documents. The tool’s prowess lies in its ability to swiftly identify facts, issues, and legal points from voluminous documents, providing a substantial boost to the expeditious handling of cases.
- AI System to read court rulings
At IIT Kharagpur, researchers have pioneered the development of an AI-assisted tool designed to read court rulings. This tool not only identifies violated laws but also holds the potential to curtail legal expenses. By employing machine learning techniques, two deep learning models within the tool comprehend the rhetorical functions of sentences in court case rulings. This innovation not only assists legal professionals but also empowers lay individuals in gauging the viability of pursuing a legal course of action.
- Access to Supreme Court Rulings in Regional Languages
In a move toward inclusivity and accessibility, the Supreme Court has initiated the translation of its judgments into vernacular languages through the employment of the Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software (SUVAS), a machine learning tool. This endeavour involves the translation of daily orders and rulings into nine Indian languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, and Odiya. By making legal information available in colloquial languages, this initiative aims to facilitate a better understanding for litigants, thereby enhancing their access to justice. The translation effort not only adds a layer of convenience but also aligns with the broader goal of fostering inclusivity within the legal system.
- Summarizing a Legal Case Document
In the realm of the legal profession, the summarization of legal documents stands as a pivotal task, and the advent of AI has brought forth significant advancements in automating this process. While numerous domain-independent text summarization algorithms exist, a notable limitation is the lack of systematic incorporation of domain knowledge, particularly in delineating the specific information pertinent to a legal case document summary. Bridging this gap, researchers at IIT Kharagpur have introduced an unsupervised summarization algorithm known as DELSumm. This innovative algorithm aims to systematically integrate recommendations from legal experts into its optimization framework, enhancing the precision and relevance of automated legal document summarization.
- Automated retrieval of key phrases
Recognizing the time-consuming and intricate nature of comprehending legal documents, especially given their voluminous and complex nature, the need for succinct summaries becomes imperative. In response, the extraction of “catchphrases” emerges as a crucial step in legal document indexing and information retrieval, considering the escalating volume of digitized legal documents.
DATA PROTECTION BILL 2023: Relation with Artificial Intelligence
Several nations and areas were drafting or considering enacting data protection laws and regulations as of my most recent knowledge update in January 2022. These regulations seek to protect people’s privacy and offer standards for the appropriate handling of personal information. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect in the European Union in 2018, is one well-known example. In addition, a number of nations have introduced or proposed data protection bills to address related issues, including Brazil, India, and others.
Data protection and artificial intelligence is related in many ways:
- Data Processing and Collection: AI systems, to enhance their performance, often leverage substantial volumes of data, which may include personal information. Adherence to data protection laws is imperative to regulate the gathering and utilization of this information, ensuring that privacy and ethical considerations are upheld.
- Informed Consent: The foundation of data protection laws lies in securing an individual’s informed consent before collecting and processing their personal data. Transparency is paramount, particularly in the context of automated decision-making processes driven by AI, as users need to be fully aware of how their personal data will be utilized.
- Algorithmic Accountability: Various data protection regulations underscore the significance of accountability and transparency in the realm of automated decision-making systems. This becomes especially critical when AI algorithms are employed to make decisions that have a substantial impact on individuals. Ensuring a clear understanding of the decision-making processes promotes ethical use and safeguards against potential biases.
- Data Minimization: Adhering to data protection principles, such as data minimization, is vital for AI applications. This principle advocates for the collection of only necessary information to fulfil specific objectives. In the context of artificial intelligence, this ensures that training models are not inundated with excessive or irrelevant data, promoting efficiency and ethical data usage.
- Security Measures: Central to data protection is the safeguarding of personal information against unauthorized access. Robust security measures are essential due to the sensitive nature of the data utilized in AI systems. Implementing stringent security protocols is crucial to prevent illegal access and maintain the integrity and confidentiality of the data involved in AI processes.
How will India’s Data Protection Law impact Artificial Intelligence?
AI services such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Bard may be able to use publicly available personal data from the internet to train their models under the terms of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, 2023, without obtaining permission or following other Bill provisions.
Clause 3(c)(ii) of the Bill states the Act shall not apply to personal data that is made or caused to be made publicly available by the user to whom such personal data relates.
The Bill provided an example to show how processing of personal data will not fall under the purview of data protection laws if the person has publicly disclosed her personal information on social media while blogging about her opinions. Since there is currently no data protection legislation requiring it, AI companies are able to scrape the personal data of Indian citizens without obtaining user consent. This situation may persist as long as publicly available personal data is exempted.
Concerns about potential privacy and copyright violations have prompted several nations, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy, and others, to scrutinize OpenAI’s ChatGPT for internet data scraping. For instance, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has requested information from OpenAI regarding the various categories of personal data collected, its usage, sources, accessibility, and measures taken to exclude private data from the training dataset. Permission for such data scraping endeavours could present differing challenges for businesses. For instance, Google, in response to privacy concerns, recently updated its privacy statement, indicating that it “may collect information that is publicly accessible online or through other open sources to support the development of Google’s AI models and the creation of tools and services like Cloud AI capabilities, Bard, and Google Translate.” Users of Gmail, Google Search, Google Maps, and other services implicitly grant permission for data usage through acceptance of this privacy statement.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, a precursor to data protection legislation, also permitted the “processing of publicly available personal data” without explicit user consent if done in the “public interest.” AI companies could potentially justify data scraping by asserting a commitment to “preventing the dissemination of false statements of fact” as a public interest ground, suggesting that utilizing such data enhances the accuracy of their models for providing users with more reliable information.
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) IN LAW
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have undergone a significant transformation in the operations of lawyers and law firms, presenting substantial opportunities for the future. Exploring the ways in which these technologies have impacted law firms, both positively and negatively, as well as their potential for ongoing improvement, is crucial.
Automatic Reminders: Legal automation involves the breakdown of traditional legal procedures or tasks, incorporating certain elements into technology. This process is particularly evident in addressing complex, high-volume work, and routine tasks. Legal automation is commonly applied in high-volume data collection, review processes, and the generation of repetitive documents. For instance, technologies like mail merge are employed to handle typical form letters, while automated tickler or reminder systems assist in tracking court dates. The applications of legal automation have evolved in sophistication, extending from filtering extensive document sets during litigation to extracting essential terms from agreements in due diligence operations. Notably, lawyers have recently embraced automation in creating legal contracts and streamlining key aspects of the negotiation process, exemplifying another area within the legal domain that stands to benefit significantly from AI.
Reviewing of Contract and it’s Analysis in less time: Lawyers have to analyse large volumes of contracts and analyse them to give legal advice to their clients. Envision a scenario where a firm deals with the review of thousands of contracts, necessitating the meticulous tracking of financial obligations, renewal terms, expiration dates, and other pertinent details. In such a legal context, the integration of AI proves to be an efficient solution.
The process of employing AI-powered document evaluation is uncomplicated: the system identifies the relevant documents, conducts an analysis, and discerns the specified terms and clauses, preparing them for subsequent review.
The effective management of projects during the document evaluation phase is paramount for the successful implementation of this new technology. It involves a hybrid approach, combining technological capabilities with manual labour. AI-powered document review exhibits the ability to comprehend documents in diverse languages, file formats, and practice areas. This facilitates practical evaluation and categorization of documents, enabling legal professionals to allocate more time to quality assurance and in-depth legal analysis.
Easy way to do Legal Research: With the advent of Artificial Intelligence, legal research has become easier as lawyers and legal firms have unparalled access to information about judges, advocates, law firms, different courts to name a few. Data-driven knowledge has replaced anecdotes and personal experience as the primary source of information. The process of employing AI-powered document evaluation is uncomplicated: the system identifies the relevant documents, conducts an analysis, and discerns the specified terms and clauses, preparing them for subsequent review. The effective management of projects during the document evaluation phase is paramount for the successful implementation of this new technology. It involves a hybrid approach, combining technological capabilities with manual labor. AI-powered document review exhibits the ability to comprehend documents in diverse languages, file formats, and practice areas. This facilitates practical evaluation and categorization of documents, enabling legal professionals to allocate more time to quality assurance and in-depth legal analysis.
Eliminating Time Consuming Tasks: Artificial Intelligence eliminates time consuming tasks for lawyers like routine paper-work, keeping records of previous cases and many more. In the legal world, e-discovery stands as a pioneer application of AI, simplifying the process of gleaning relevant information from digital mountains. Leveraging e-discovery software, lawyers can sift through oceans of documentation, honing in on specifics through keywords, dates, or even geographical context. This efficiency boost grants legal professionals precious time to delve deeper into crucial details. Case in point, platforms like Kira Systems empower lawyers to not only discover and retrieve data hidden within vast contract libraries, but also to analyse and assess its significance. This translates to insightful summary charts, paving the way for streamlined due diligence during mergers and acquisitions.
Enhanced Quality of Work: Cutting-edge software, devoid of fatigue or confusion, can generate work free from errors. Tailored document software enhances document structuring and preserves this organization, including all internal cross-references, throughout the document’s lifespan. Tools for comparing contracts identify missing clauses, incorrect terminology, or ambiguous terms through document comparison and automated learning, both within a single file and across comparable documents.
DRAWBACKS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE LEGAL FIELD
Unemployment of Professionals: While the rise of AI in the legal field brings immense potential, it also carries the inevitable shadow of automation and potential job displacement. According to Deloitte, as many as 100,000 legal-related jobs could be automated by 2036. This might initially seem like a grim forecast, but a closer look reveals a nuanced picture.
Deloitte’s research paints a contrasting picture of job losses and gains. While automation claims 31,000 legal positions, the legal sector has simultaneously witnessed a surge of approximately 80,000 new jobs. The key insight lies in the nature of these new roles: they tend to be higher-skilled and, consequently, better compensated.
AI is affordable only by big law firms: Smaller firms, with comparatively limited financial resources, may face challenges in adopting emerging technologies. As a result, law firms capable of investing in AI may experience financial growth, creating a potential disparity in economic outcomes among different firms.
Machines are unreliable: Even slight disruptions to the machinery or software can lead to significant complications. While AI theoretically holds the promise of being flawless, the absence of a guarantee for error-free devices or software remains. For law firms, potential damage in such situations could result in considerable chaos, necessitating the company to cover the installation costs. Furthermore, there is a lack of established rules or regulations to oversee AI tools. Additionally, AI lacks the ability to listen, empathize, advocate, or comprehend political nuances.
Susceptible to Online Attacks: There’s a valid concern about privacy and cybersecurity, and recent research from a malpractice insurer highlights this issue. The study found that cyberattacks impacted 22% of legal firms, affecting even well-known figures in the industry. Surprisingly, smaller businesses are not exempt, as the American Bar Association reports a 35% cyberattack rate among legal companies with 10 to 49 practitioners, indicating more than a third of small law firms have faced hacking incidents.
Conclusion and Suggestion
While legal automation holds great promise, bringing these technologies to fruition will demand a considerable amount of effort for successful implementation.
Creating different automation systems requires a “lawyer brain” to ensure accurate configuration. Mistakes may occur if the instructions during setup are incorrect. Additionally, as laws evolve, algorithms need updating. Relying on outdated legal opinions or automated procedures is not viable. Securing approval from those providing input for recording through technology is essential, demanding both knowledge and time. Often, “translators” are necessary to bridge the gap between legal experts and technologists integrating software processes. Organizations must thoroughly understand their current procedures to avoid automating redundant or flawed processes, which could lead to multiple errors.
First and foremost, initiating with a plan for change management, determining how the technology will be introduced to lawyers and clients, devising strategies to motivate and foster adoption, both within the organization and externally, considering how the AI technology will seamlessly integrate with the current systems and processes of the lawyer or law firm. Identifying which AIs will be employed to monitor and assess the usage of the technology.
In concluding this article, it’s worth noting, the increasing automation of legal roles through artificial intelligence systems. Law firms find themselves compelled to embrace this emerging new technology. While some argue that manual review offers greater accuracy and is preferable for lawyers, AI systems excel in completing tasks swiftly, making them advantageous when time efficiency is a primary concern. Advanced machines and software can execute tasks both accurately and rapidly.
The adoption of AI in law firms not only allows lawyers more time but also enhances their ability to provide thoughtful counsel and elevate their overall work. In essence, integrating AI into legal practices can propel law firms forward, enabling lawyers to operate with heightened efficiency.
BY: Sk. Sajid Hossain
Bikash Bharati Law College, University of Calcutta.