There has been a boom in the number of vendors who sell artificial intelligence products to legal departments—making for a more competitive market and increasing vendor options for in-house counsel, according to a buyer's guide for legal technology published by LawGeex on Monday.

“The In-House Counsel's Legal Tech Buyer's Guide 2018″ shows there has been a 60 percent increase in AI vendors since 2017. Last year, the LawGeex buyer's guide counted 40 vendors creating AI for in-house legal departments; and this year the number has risen to 66.

The rise in vendors appears to have gone up along with the need for AI in the in-house market. According to the guide, 71 percent of law departments indicated that they need an increase in productivity but need it without hiring additional (human) workers.

“Any legal tech that saves an attorney time through increased efficiency is inherently valuable and attorneys—more than almost any profession—know the value of time,” Roberto Facundus, senior vice president of legal and business affairs at Tongal Inc., said in the guide.

Shmuli Goldberg, the vice president of marketing at LawGeex, told Corporate Counsel that more in-house counsel are starting to trust AI technologies.

He said legal departments are continually being asked to do more with less. AI, he said, allows lawyers to do less grunt work and focus on more important tasks. Goldberg said that while there is still some hesitation to use AI, many in-house teams have adopted it with the understanding that it will not replace attorneys, which was a fear when the technology was first introduced.

“It's not going to make decisions on behalf of the legal team,” Goldberg said, comparing AI tools to auto-pilot technology. “No auto-pilot is ever going to replace the pilot.”

Goldberg said that he does not believe that the growing market for AI will make the technology more affordable. However, he did say it means existing vendors in this space will have to step up their game.

“The market will become competitive. It's going to eventually lead to better product and services in the market,” Goldberg said.

AI is being used for nearly everything from drafting legal documents to dealing with intellectual property. There are numerous vendors working on providing solutions around many of these tasks, according to the guide, but there are more AI vendors for e-discovery and legal research than anything else.

The guide recommends that those interested in buying legal technology in general first prioritize what they need in their departments, then establish what they already have. Then, it said, they should define the goals and requirements of what they need from their legal tech, pick the solution and then plan for what can go wrong and for “disappointments along the way.”