Extract form Cassandre Coyer’s article “For Law Firms, Will Generative AI Really Be a Major Competitive Differentiator?”
Generative artificial intelligence has been flaunted as this year’s new must-have, promising an unmatched edge for the firms that embrace it and a future of falling behind for those who don’t.
Soon enough though, it’s likely that most firms will be using some form of generative AI in the same way that traditional AI became ubiquitous over the last decade. When that happens, will generative AI still be considered much of a differentiator?
Firms have for a long time relied on a similar, small pool of resources whether it be research platforms or legal technology tools—meaning they’ve all been playing with the same building blocks. The differentiator hasn’t been the blocks themselves, sources told Legaltech News, but the way in which firms have used internal resources from talent to processes to make the most out of them. And generative AI should be no different. If anything, the technology will require more hands-on customization and fine-tuning than previous ones to be leveraged to its full potential.
“It is nothing new that all the law firms have been working with the same set of Legos. But the difference is with those same pieces, how do you use them? And how much benefit do you derive?” noted Wendy Curtis, chief innovation officer at Orrick.
