BEYOND THE AI HYPE: ACCELERATING LEGAL AND COMPLIANCE MATTERS THROUGH DATA SCIENCE

However nebulous and varied it may be, the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to dominate headlines, with multiple hype cycles and industry speculation. Around the globe, leaders in nearly every industry eagerly buy in to the promises of AI to transform the way we work. Governments have also jumped on the bandwagon.

Since 2018, under the Horizon 2020 programme, the European Commission (EC) has dedicated nearly €80bn to strengthening AI research and innovation. Furthermore, guidelines and governance around the ethical use of AI and the data being captured to power these technologies continues to emerge from the EC and other jurisdictions around the world.

While this momentum is significant, in practice the return on AI’s promises is still largely unrealised outside the realms of a subset of global technology firms. Particularly in legal and compliance, meaningful disruption has yet to materialise. In a World Services Group survey of general counsel across Europe, only 9 percent believe impacts will be felt in the near term. More than half said they do not expect AI to become a disruptor for five or more years and one-third said they do not anticipate significant strides in the space for more than a decade.

To date, technology assisted review (TAR) and predictive coding – both generally categorised under the AI umbrella – have driven some progress in the legal and compliance space. Having gained increasing judicial approval and traction with lawyers, TAR adoption is on a steady upswing in many regions. Still, these technologies offer only a portion of the broader AI options available to lawyers and compliance professionals today.

Is there a place for AI?

In legal and compliance, the hype around AI and machine learning (ML) – including the hot pursuit of court judgements and enlightened regulators that approve the use of AI techniques – have led to a polarised, all-or-nothing view of analytics. Most lawyers and compliance professionals now believe they have only two options: walk (i.e., approach litigation the ‘old’ way through manual review) or sprint (powered by off-the-shelf, often over-hyped AI tools) to the finish line. Many also fear having to do both in the face of regulatory officials unfamiliar with how the technologies work.

Jul-Sep 2020 issue

FTI Consulting