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16
B Y J O N AT H A N R E E D
Closing the Skills Gap
AI, Analytics and the Legal Profession
A
rtificial intelligence has been one of the
biggest legal tech buzzwords of the past
decade. AI, however, is far more than
just a technological benchmark. AI-powered tools and
platforms allow lawyers to better discover trends and
answer critical questions in order to achieve better
matter outcomes and run more efficient practices.
Most importantly, AI allows lawyers to do
all these things without having to understand the
underlying data science or write complex code. With
a basic understanding of what AI is and how it works
in the legal profession, law departments stand to take
maximum advantage of today's technological offerings.
The Current State of AI
The term AI has been around for decades, ever since
Hollywood's rise-of-the-machines scenarios tried to
scare people into thinking that robots would take
their jobs. In reality, we are far from that level of
advancement. Nonetheless, AI is already all around us
every day.
AI today exists in four main categories. The
first and most basic is reactive machines, which can
be programmed to perform certain actions, but are
incapable of holding memory or utilizing experience
to predict outcomes. One example would be sensors
that know to light up when you walk through a
specific area.
The next category is limited-memory AI, which
is essentially the next step beyond reactive machines.
Think of technologies like smart thermostats – they
