Headlines featuring artificial intelligence (“AI”) are now becoming a daily occurrence- an interesting and fascinating evolution of technology, given that AI was once regarded as nothing more than fiction or light years away. We now find ourselves in a world where AI is capable of driving us home or assisting us in settling cases, but are we ready to embrace this technology?
It was recently reported by the Law Society Gazette that a lawyer and mediator had facilitated the first online dispute to be settled by a computer algorithm in England and Wales. The algorithm claims to learn bidding tactics of both parties, giving a reward to the party which makes more effort to settle. It is unclear what this reward would involve but this is an interesting merging of technology and Law.
In other sectors, reports of AI that are able to produce convincing and readable articles using simply a few words and phrases are emerging. A positive aspect of this that has been cited is the possibility of AI speed reading text and summarising them for us, however unregulated use of such technology may lead to inaccurate or fake articles being spread via social media. Worse yet, spam emails may actually become convincing and could even be made to appear as though it had come from you and unfortunately catch your friends or family out.
While the leap into AI may be in the pipeline, there is plenty of growth opportunities and development for legal professionals within the sector. AI may be used to increase productivity and efficiency within the profession. It also touches all aspects of law, from Road Traffic Accidents, to Equality, Litigation, Data Protection and Intellectual Property to name a few.
As a growing and expanding firm with 12 practice areas, Ramsdens remains ready to be at the forefront of the developments in to the law and technology. If you have any enquires regarding matters relating to AI and its legal implications, please call a member of our team on 01484 821 500 or email us at info@ramsdens.co.uk.