Artificial Intelligence.

 

Despite all the potential artificial intelligence (AI) has to transform corporate legal services, many legal teams are still not ready to use the technology, according to HBR Consulting's “Law Department Artificial Intelligence Survey Report,” a survey of 35 legal departments, most of whom are in Fortune 500 organizations.

The survey found that only a small minority of legal departments were currently moving to leverage AI in their operations. Only six percent, for example, either considered AI a “high priority” in their department or have deployed AI in-house in some fashion.

To be sure, a significant amount of legal departments were expressing strong interest in the technology, with 31 percent calling it a “medium priority” for their department and 26 percent noting they needed to deploy AI in the near future.

But an almost equal amount had little to no interest in the technology. While 43 percent said it was “not a priority” or a “low priority” for their department, 31 percent said the technology is not even on their radar.

Though HBR's survey only included a relatively small sample size, its findings echoed that of the Thomson Reuters' “Ready or Not: Artificial Intelligence and Corporate Legal Departments” October 2017 report, which surveyed 207 legal departments.

That report found a strong lack of interest in AI among legal departments because many are not yet prepared for the technology. What's more, a majority believed that it would take a decade or more for AI to become mainstream.

Bobbi Basile, managing director at HBR Consulting, noted that that the low deployment of AI can be “reflective of the buying cycle that law departments are subject to,” adding that many haven't yet put aside the funds needed to purchase and deploy the technology.

But she also said that many legal departments were likely simply not ready for AI either. The technology requires extensive training before it can be deployed, and such training can be quite technical in nature.

Legal departments, however, “typically do not have data scientists or folks who are typically designated for that role,” she said, adding, “The fact that it requires that level of guidance associated with it is likely a barrier as well.”

Similar to Thomson Reuters' report, the HBR survey also found that most legal departments see AI as a tool that enables efficiencies rather than replaces staff. Around two-thirds believed that AI could help them increase productivity without increasing staff, while 66 percent said AI can improve legal department operations. Only 26 percent believed AI could decrease their reliance on outside counsel.

More legal departments also said the most opportunity to leverage AI was in contract analytics, (40 percent) than in e-discovery (17 percent) or predictive analytics (14 percent), despite AI being established in all three fields.

Basile explained legal departments are generally unfamiliar with AI's use outside of contract analytics. She noted that many “do not take control over e-discovery; for example, they abdicate responsibility to their outside counsel” and are therefore unaware of AI's role in the technology.