With the increased use in artificial intelligence, general counsel and chief legal officers are being asked to oversee their employer's implementation of the technology without a template on what kinds of questions they need to be asking.

Now, Lex Mundi, with the help of Cambrian Futures and Morrison & Foerster, has published a checklist to give legal department leaders a starting point.

Jenny Karlsson, the North American head of global markets at Lex Mundi in Houston, told Corporate Counsel that during a conference in 2019, general counsel in a variety of industries expressed concern over how to manage the launch of the technology.

"The purpose of the checklist is that it serves as a starting point for GCs to determine what kind of questions they need to ask to proceed with implementing artificial intelligence," Karlsson said.

Karlsson noted that she expects the checklist will be tailored to suit each individual organization's needs and that it is not meant for one size fits all.

The items on the checklist are governance, compliance, test, audit and evolve, training, and institution building. She said she would expect GCs to change parts of the checklist based on their industry and how they plan on using artificial intelligence, however, she said all GCs should put a greater focus on governance.

"Based on the responses we've received from general counsel, governance seems to be one of the greatest challenges," Karlsson said.

That would include making sure that there is training throughout the company on how to properly use the technology, making sure ethics on the use of AI is taught throughout the organization. Karlsson explained that governance can help general counsel find ways to best protect the company surrounding its use of artificial intelligence.

Generally speaking, some of the liability issues the GCs need to be aware of when their company implements artificial intelligence include bias, how it is used when recruiting and hiring prospective employees and being aware of vendor issues. Karlsson said knowing there is a structure to oversee those risks will give general counsel a better idea of how to protect the company legally.

Karlsson said that artificial intelligence technology has moved largely moved beyond skepticism and she would expect more companies to implement it in the near future. As employees continue working from home, companies will need to use artificial intelligence to streamline work processes, she said.

"I think artificial intelligence will become more important in the environment that we find ourselves in," Karlsson said.