Where are we in the "hype-cycle" when it comes to artificial intelligence? And what sorts of implications does the widespread use of AI and its affiliated technologies mean for litigators and the business decisions surrounding litigation?

Litigation funder Burford Capital hosted a wide-sweeping conversation centering on those topics with some of the top minds in legal technology yesterday morning. David Perla, Burford's co-chief operating officer and the moderator of yesterday's conversation, used the image of a roller coaster to illustrate where we currently sit with AI. Picture a coaster car being cranked to the top of the first peak on a long track. It's about as buzzy as it gets, but it's all potential at that point. Perla said that we're at that place now: the point where the short-term impact of AI is being overemphasized, but the long-term disruption to the market is likely being underappreciated. The time it will take to implement the truly game-changing innovations is down there at the end of the tracks.