Frank Ready, ALM Media: With Acquisitions, E-Discovery Vendors Bank on AI Being More Than a ‘Hot Topic’

Extract from Frank Ready’s article “With Acquisitions, E-Discovery Vendors Bank on AI Being More Than a ‘Hot Topic'”

Artificial intelligence (AI) has played a starring role in recent acquisitions made by e-discovery providers such as Relativity, Reveal and iCONECT as they seek to provide a better user experience. But if vendors are counting on a few AI-centric headlines to significantly raise their profile among potential customers, it’s possible they could be in for a rude awakening. 

Of course, there are some practical forces to consider as well. Legal tech and e-discovery provider iCONECT announced last week that it had acquired a “gold copy” of the Ayfie Inspector artificial intelligence code base. Ian Campbell, iCONECT’s president and CEO, noted that the AI technology allows clients to perform document reviews faster and more efficiently. 

But for the company itself, having direct access to the Ayfie Inspector source code allows iCONECT to create a more seamless user experience—which could be vital to winning more clients. ”In my perspective, the winner of the race in this is the person who can make [AI] invisible to the user. … The more invisible AI can be, the wider level of adoption there will be. And that’s not easy,” Campbell said.

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