The pros and cons of Generative AI: a discussion
Insights from our second LawTech thought leadership meeting.
13 November 2023 • 3 minute read
As you would expect, our second LawTech thought leadership meeting, which we hosted in June, was filled with lively discussion about generative AI.
LawTech meetings connect LawTech innovation to the UK legal industry. This time we were joined by some of our Eagle Labs Professional Services Tech partners, who shared their thoughts about and insights relating to what they’ve seen of AI so far.
There were two main topics of discussion:
- The pros and cons of using generative AI – looking at use cases, governance, security, ethics, client interactions, transformation, accuracy and efficiency
- What does AI mean for the future of the legal sector?
Some of the comments were incredibly insightful, with fantastic thought leadership on generative AI, such as how it’s viewed within the legal sector and what might be on the horizon. In this article, we’ve added our own observations of using generative AI to highlights from the discussion.
Looking at the pros and cons
The rapid advancement and adoption of Generative AI has made it a prominent area of research and development, bringing with it good and bad.
The pros of Generative AI…
There’s a growing interest in its potential
The legal industry seems to have a positive, proactive approach to generative AI in its many forms. While there’s a long road ahead, and lots of work to be done, there’s also a feeling of optimism about its potential, and that generative AI is here to stay.
It could improve efficiency
On a basic level, there’s an understanding that generative AI could be used to speed up manual tasks, such as generating invoices or in-depth research. This could increase productivity, because it could give lawyers more time to dedicate to interactions with clients.
It’s a versatile tool
Generative AI can support a wide range of tasks because it’s adaptable. The professional services sector is still working out what those tasks are, and how useful AI can be in supporting them. This is one of the exciting ‘watch this space’ areas. It will be interesting to see the different ways firms interact with the technology and what we can learn from a collective industry approach.
It could reduce costs
Using Generative AI could improve efficiency, reducing the amount of time spent on long, repetitive and administrative tasks. Automation could save legal practitioners valuable time and reduce costs for clients.
And the cons...
AI in general raises ethical questions
As machines approach human-like cognitive abilities, questions of control, decision-making and accountability become crucial. How do we make sure AI upholds human values is of major concern. Lawyers have the ethical obligation to protect client information. Strong security measures are critical to protect against data breaches and other threats to confidentiality.
Quality control must be monitored closely
The industry needs to make sure that AI-generated content meets the correct standards and sector expectations. Legal firms need to know their content can be trusted. It’s likely to be a standard requirement to review and refine AI-generated content for years to come. At this stage, relying on AI tools alone is risky and may expose lawyers to professional liability and disciplinary action.
It’s not always accurate
Generative AI relies on ‘guessing’ the probability of which word or idea should come next – based on the content available to it. This means it can sometimes offer up inaccurate information as fact. These false outputs are referred to as ‘hallucinations’ and are a serious concern. Until this can be controlled, it’ll be difficult for legal professionals to trust generative AI platforms.
Balancing creativity with control
While generative AI is new and exciting, it also comes with challenges. It can be difficult to make sure that generated content is original, coherent and relevant.
In summary
The legal industry needs to maximise the potential of AI in its many forms while managing the risks.
The legal industry is on a fascinating, transformative journey. It’s exciting, but the legal sector needs to make sure it takes a sensible and measured approach to AI.
As part of our ongoing commitment to closing the gap between legal innovation and traditional legal practices, our LawTech thought leadership meetings uncover and discuss insights about the industry sector. Look out for more insights from our next meeting.
Liam Angus
Eagle Labs LawTech Manager
Liam spent 6 years studying the law to diploma level and has just short of 10 years’ experience in banking, across a variety of roles including Relationship Management of high net worth individuals and business development within Wealth and Investments. Liam has a broad understanding of the challenges that exist for growing and scaling businesses and legal professionals alike. He is dedicated to using his experience and knowledge to drive change within the legal sector and to create opportunities for the LawTech community to make a positive impact on the development of legal process across the legal sector and beyond.
Balraj Singh
Eagle Labs LawTech Manager
Bal has a huge passion for engaging with LawTech community and supporting growth by providing opportunities for our LawTech community to showcase innovation on all scales. Before being a LawTech Lab Manager, Bal has operated within Barclays Business banking, supporting business in all industries and managing relationships within a local communities in London. His current role includes managing members within the Eagle Lab LawTech community and understating what’s working well, and most importantly what’s not working and using our huge Eagle Lab ecosystem trying to rectify these issues and scaling up our committee at the same time.
Barclays (including its employees, Directors and agents) accepts no responsibility and shall have no liability in contract, tort or otherwise to any person in connection with this content or the use of or reliance on any information or data set out in this content unless it expressly agrees otherwise in writing. It does not constitute an offer to sell or buy any security, investment, financial product or service and does not constitute investment, professional, legal or tax advice, or a recommendation with respect to any securities or financial instruments.
The information, statements and opinions contained in this content are of a general nature only and do not take into account your individual circumstances including any laws, policies, procedures or practices you, or your employer or businesses may have or be subject to. Although the statements of fact on this page have been obtained from and are based upon sources that Barclays believes to be reliable, Barclays does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness.
Topic
Related tags