If you were to ask the common man or woman, in today’s world, ‘what is it that AI does for you?’ – In a few words, they’d probably say “robots or computer programs doing a human’s work”.
On the other end of the spectrum, if this question was posed to an anxious 18-year-old fresher entering law school or to a sanguine 21-year-old Arts graduate wanting to pursue law or even to a candour law professor; the answers would be varied even though they all have one thing in common – the legal education field.
So the answer to this question is what you will find out in this 2 minute read. In the legal industry, some of the well-known uses of AI can be seen in the courtrooms, with the world transitioning into the online mode of things and in reviewing documents. In fact, it only takes 26 seconds to review five documents by the AI software as opposed to the average lawyer’s speed of 92 minutes.
Moreover, AI can mimic patterns from previous cases and predict with 86% accuracy the next couple of steps to be taken in a particular case. These are just to name a few; but this becomes the elusive matter at hand because most law schools do not inculcate teaching students how to work with AI to become better lawyers in the ever-evolving technological era.
So here’s what AI can do in the legal education field: AI can replace professors – although I would certainly prefer cracking a few jokes with my professor and talking about the ways of life every now and then, during or after a lecture, I do believe that certain introductory classes and exam invigilation can definitely be done by AI programs.
Modifications to law school curriculum – this would include adding electives or subjects in artificial intelligence, machine learning, technology law & courses on cryptocurrencies. Additionally, the question of how one can introduce non-human creations under Intellectual Property could arise and soon be a heated debate in law schools. Introduction of AI software to help students – not just to help them with their research but to help identify which aspect of legal thinking they may need to improve on; such as, legal reasoning/ legal drafting/ problem solving, etc. Changes in student portfolio – laws schools could be more interested in onboarding students from technology and engineering backgrounds as they would become exceptional practitioners in the growing field of AI. Now, it can be difficult to ascertain which of these trends would take off pervasively; but one fact remains ambiguous, i.e. whether AI can replace humans. As much as I would love to learn how to use AI to make my job and life easier, I would only wish for AI to facilitate me and not replace me; for I think that AI will always lack the complex emotional quotient that we humans fail to perfectly understand ourselves.