I know AI is becoming a BIG topic in the legal area when:
- John Roberts, the US Supreme Court Justice dedicated almost the entirety of his 2023 Year End report on Federal Judiciary to the discussion of AI.
- The New York State Bar Association 2024 Annual Meeting spent the entire 3 hours of President Summit on Jan 17th afternoon, educating lawyers about AI, by two panel of distinguished judges, practicing attorneys and professors.
What stuck in my mind from that NYSBA President Summit though, was a question asked by an audience. At the end of a panel discussion, an old lady with all silver white hair, stood up and said: All the information that has been discussed here is terrifying for people like me, and I am not alone. How are we supposed to absorb all these information about AI, and still have time to do my law practice?
The question apparently resonated with the audience, because several people asked for my opinions about her question at the President’s Reception that evening.
My thoughts are: Don’t fear AI. Fear your fellow lawyers who can use AI. Fear your lack of will and time learning AI.
Don’t Fear AI. AI is just another productivity tool now available to all, just like Personal Computer became a popular productivity tool 40 years ago, replacing typewriters in the Courts and law firms. These were followed by Internet and Mobile phone, all these tools made more differences in the legal and other professional areas. Those who had adopted such tools early benefited from a surge in the productivity of their professional practices, and likely had changed their growth trajectory. As a tool, AI’s benefits significantly outweigh its risks. Its known risks of AI hallucination, data security and privacy, all can be well managed. Come ask us how we mitigate these risks with confidence!
AI won’t replace human lawyers, but will supplant many human activities as excellent legal assistants, and will improve the nature of legal work. AI can uplift our work to start on a higher ground, and free us time that we can put to better use with clients, family and ourselves. At Anytime AI, we aim to use AI to save lawyers up to 90% of time in long document review, summarization, comparison, polishing and translation, plus automating specific work flow actions like generating Demand Letters and Bills of Particulars, measured in minutes instead of days. Human lawyers still need to check AI’s work to verify accuracy, but reviewing and editing is at least 10X easier than starting from scratch. AI won’t replace your job, but the lawyers who can use AI will soon replace the lawyers who cannot.
Fear your fellow attorneys who adopt AI early. Those professionals who had adopted Personal Computers and word processing software early 40 years ago, gained many advantages over those who kept using typewriters, in terms of efficiency, quality, speed, and reduced labor cost, and their professional careers grew faster, better and more profitably. The same thing is happening again in AI, just much faster this time. ChatGPT gained 100 million users within 2 months, the fastest adopted applications in the history. AnytimeAI is like an enterprise version of ChatGPT built for lawyers, with bank-grade end-to-end data encryption, security and privacy protection for your client’s data. It also has specialized legal workflow automation dedicated to certain field like Personal Injury litigation and defense. Imagine a Personal Injury law firms used to be able to process 100 cases per month, now able to process 200 cases per month, double their capacity without increasing their labor costs! Now they can charge lower rates and produce better results faster for their clients! Fear not AI, but fear your law firm competitor who can leverage the power of AI!
Fear your lack of will and time to learn and adopt AI. Like any tools, AI takes some investment of time and effort to learn it and get used to it. Don’t think “I am too old for AI”. If you are using iPhone or a new Android phone, you are already using AI technologies like Facial and voice recognition. Like a modern iPhone, ChatGPT type of AI applications are easy and intuitive for laymen to use. We endeavor to make AnytimeAI easy, simple and intuitive for lawyers to use, without requiring a lot of training. But still, time sharpening the saw will only help you cut down more woods faster. The more comfortable you get with your tools, the more natural it becomes for you to use and benefit. The early you start using AI, the easier it will be for you to connect with, recruit and manage young talents graduating from the law school. The young generations grow up with AI, and they will be more inclined to join and stay with a law firm that’s perceived as modern, agile to ride the tide of the era.
My concluding thoughts after the NYSBA 2024 President’s Summit:
- Don’t fear AI. Embrace AI tools just like a new personal computer or mobile phone.
- Fear your fellow lawyers who can use AI. AI won’t replace lawyers, but the lawyers who can use AI will soon replace the lawyers who cannot. Who do you want to become?
- Fear your lack of will and time learning AI. Invest your time early to acquire AI skills. Trust me, AnytimeAI is easy to learn and use. Send Henry Hu or Lingfei (Teddy) Wu a LinkedIn message to chat!
