Intelligence systems are cutting costs and making efficiencies in some areas of business, whether that is B2C or B2B. However their application to legal services requires a paradigm shift. For example, what if we put systems in place to reduce the need for legal in the first place? Then the need for law will be circumvented because of process driven systems being applied elsewhere along the business chain.
He gave examples of e-commerce companies’ online arbitration systems, and although these are not perfect, it is an alternative approach. Issues around risk and compliance are being addressed through process automation. This means that discrepancies and irregularities can be prevented at the outset. He asked, will driverless cars make insurance claims easier? And will chatbots assist with other problem solving? This is all up for discussion and development.
A recent article on ‘how hyping A.I. enriched investors, fooled the media, and confused the hell out of the rest of us’ demonstrates how irritated consumers have become. They want to know what is possible, without recourse to hype and science fiction. When you are looking to invest in a system which promises to make your admin more efficient, you want to know its limitations. His advice
- Be sceptical
- Be critical
- Don’t be fooled
You also need to understand the system properly to assess its usefulness so ask the vendor exactly how it works. AI is an unspecific buzzword which has no place in serious discussions. And as he stated, as soon as a piece of tech becomes reliable and widely accepted, it’s not called AI anymore. For example, it might be a spam filter, Google translate, social media follow suggestions, or streaming services ‘you might like’.
Ultimately even if you have asked the right questions and followed the advice, technology could still fall short of expectations. As I discovered above, tech predictions are generally flawed, fantasy driven but utterly fascinating. Can you make any predictions about how your industry will change due to technology?