AI and The Law

Corporate executives, government leaders and the public at large have expressed cautious enthusiasm about the significant promise of artificial intelligence (AI). And with good reason: this transformative technology has the potential to drive economies, boost cost efficiencies and improve the quality of life throughout our society.

At the same time, many have pointed to the pitfalls at play with AI. Both the public and private sectors must consider the inherent ethical and legal risks of AI to ensure its safe and lawful use. Legal teams should also do their part to balance the opportunities against the risks. Applying a trustworthy approach to AI adoption will be crucial not just for compliance. Customers and users increasingly require that companies they deal with guarantee their basic rights and explain clearly how AI will augment services or products. By taking a proactive approach, leaders of legal departments can position their organization and inspire confidence in the market. The coming years are expected to be pivotal for AI, with significant developments on the horizon in both AI innovation and regulation.

Technological advancements in AI continue to drive innovation and reshape industries. The development of general purpose AI (GPAI) models has raised new challenges and opportunities. These models, capable of performing a wide range of tasks, require robust risk management and technical documentation to ensure safe and effective deployment. The EU AI Act’s provisions for GPAI models highlight the need for detailed summaries of training data and ongoing monitoring to maintain accuracy and reliability.

A challenge among departments seeking to make the most of GPAI models is the need to ensure that data inputted into AI is suitably digitized, cleansed and curated to maximize output quality — which can take time, money and skill. Those using third-party models need to consider whether models pulling data from the internet are suitably reliable and don’t produce biased or misleading results.

Using AI in general, and Gen AI in particular, will improve how law firms and in-house legal teams work — making them more efficient, more agile and potentially more profitable. It will also unlock more time for them to contribute greater value to their organizations, while mitigating the legal risks

Many use cases are already being widely implemented using Gen AI, such as legal drafting, contract management and monitoring, legal risk and compliance control, regulatory oversight and more.

Embedding accountability will likely require in-house teams to develop new skillsets not only to understand and make the most of AI capabilities, but also to identify and assess the associated risks. The future will see the roles of in-house legal professionals augmented by AI, and parts of every job are likely to be supplanted or supplemented by the technology.

It is undoubtedly a good moment to redefine the role of corporate legal teams and the legal profession at large, and to establish how they will make the most of AI. Legal teams should actively participate in defining the digital transformation and innovation strategies of their organizations. They should also reimagine their operating and management models to optimize processes and efficiencies, as well as to provide greater strategic corporate value.

A Philippine Perspective

In the Philippines, the use of AI in legal processes is gradually expanding. Applications include legal research, document review, case management, and administrative functions. These developments aim to improve efficiency and access to justice, while maintaining the integrity and ethical standards of the legal profession.