How are other in-house legal departments using AI?

AI is a broad term, and I believe that the legal profession is just starting on our journey with it. Our in-house legal department is currently focusing on three key areas right now:

First, we are in the process of leveraging and implementing an AI-enabled contract redlining tool, which we believe will allow us to dramatically reduce the resources required to process third-party papers. This is where we’re starting, and it’s our primary priority because it will have the biggest impact in terms of resources.  

Next, we’ve begun using technologies like Bing Chat Enterprise and started conversations around using new technologies (i.e. how AI works, potential use cases, sharing tips and tricks, etc.). This is meant to be a community process to teach us how to adjust our processes and mindsets to take advantage of emerging technology. It's going to be a slow and iterative process to figure out how to be able to use this effectively.

Last, we’re waiting for AI-enabled legal research. There’s been fanfare around it, but we’re still waiting for its arrival. I suspect that it could create an opportunity for us to respond to inquiries from our clients much quicker with less dependence on outside counsel. We understand that, initially, these tools may provide limited accuracy and analysis, but the tools will serve as starting points for our analysis and work. Once these tools are available, there will obviously be a detailed experimentation process. I’m a firm believer that this technology will enable us to deliver greater value, to do so at the speed of business, and to reduce costs.

Although there is a willingness to explore how AI can be used in legal, all the recent surveys show that only a small percentage of in-house corporate law departments are currently using ChatGPT and generative AI. Adoption is slow. I don't think anybody wants to be the first to experiment.