Canadian Lawyer

August 2023

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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www.canadianlawyermag.com 5 the conversation going. They're not designed to be accurate," says Sangha. "For legal, where precise language and precise information are important, it's not optimized. It's going to make mistakes and errors." Generative AI's lack of nuance poses a problem because legal practice requires empathy, Sangha says. Each client and situation is unique, and a lawyer cannot expect a chatbot to digest a person's particular circumstances and needs and produce a tailored response. As for privacy, the information logged into ChatGPT is no longer private. "It goes without saying that anything you throw into OpenAI is now part of their training tool. You've got to be very cognizant about that," says Sangha. Because of the functionality and efficiency improvement it offers, tech professional Amine Anoun says it's crucial for lawyers to adopt generative AI. A former data scientist at Uber and an MIT Sloan School of Management graduate, Anoun is the founder and chief technology officer at Evisort, an AI-powered contract management software. "As long as it's done with the right data and privacy guidance around it, it can be an accelerator for legal professionals," he says. In their new book, The Legal Singularity: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Law Radically Better, University of Toronto law professors Benjamin Alarie and Abdi Aidid argue that AI can allow the law to live up to its promise. By automating grunt work and administrative chores, AI can make the justice system more equitable, efficient, and publicly accessible. Alarie says this involves dramatically improving the law's substance and resolution and making it more transparent, certain, and predictable. "There's a lot more that we could be doing with the law to support more fairness, more efficiency, fairer institutions, more development, healthier lives, longer lives," Alarie says. "Virtually everything that we care about, that supports human flourishing, can be supported through improved law." TECH ADOPTION FACTORS TO CONSIDER Sukesh Kamra, chief knowledge and innovation officer at Torys LLP, told Canadian Lawyer that firms should think about four things before they adopt new legal tech: • consider firm strategy and ensure the technology aligns with the firm's goals • determine whether existing technology is fit for the purpose • ensure the use case is well thought out • assess the provider and figure out who owns the business, who will ensure the technology is implemented, and who will own the vendor relationship "As long as [generative AI is used] with the right data and privacy guidance around it, it can be an accelerator for legal professionals" Amine Anoun, Evisort

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