Will We Use AI for Legal Matters in the Future?

If you’ve been online at all recently, chances are you’ve been seeing a lot of buzz around artificial intelligence. No matter your opinion on whether these technologies are good or bad for society, the advancements are undeniable. Recent headlines about “robot lawyers” have raised another fascinating question in the world of machine learning: Will we be able to use AI for legal proceedings anytime in the near future? 

Would Using AI for Legal Proceedings Be More Efficient?

Depending on how you look at it, in some ways, we already can and do use AI for legal matters. While splashy headlines about using artificial intelligence in place of a qualified human lawyer are nowhere near real for the time being, tools powered by machine learning are used to sort, scan, and access documents. 

One of the most common ways that AI is being used in the legal industry is to assist with document processing and classification. Document and contract review, regulatory compliance, contract management, and due diligence can all be expedited (if not completely managed) with the assistance of AI. 

Can We Actually Use AI for Legal Matters? 

Advancements like these, however useful they may be, are a far cry from the robot lawyers promised by headlines. The few platforms that do attempt to use AI for legal counsel in place of a real human attorney have faced both technical and legal troubles. 

DoNotPay, a company that uses AI to provide some legal services, has recently come under fire for the alleged low quality of its legal services. Its critics also claim that because the platform’s AI is not a licensed attorney, it cannot practice law or call itself an AI Lawyer or a Robot Lawyer. A class-action lawsuit filed in March 2023 states that "unfortunately for its customers, DoNotPay is not actually a robot, a lawyer, nor a law firm. DoNotPay does not have a law degree, is not barred in any jurisdiction, and is not supervised by any lawyer."

Regardless of whether the court rules in favor of or against AIs in the legal world, the legal profession is far from being replaced with robots. We may see an increase in the use of AI to aid legal professionals and streamline their work, but you won’t be hiring a machine instead of a real lawyer to represent you in court anytime soon. 

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