Scholar and lecturer Susskind predicts that artificial intelligence in law will take off in the 2020s.
Among those curious about the technology’s impact on the profession is Richard Susskind, a scholar and lecturer whose work includes “The End of Lawyers?: Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services.’” In his view, AI “really takes off” in the 2020s, and until then won’t go mainstream. And while he finds it funny that lawyers think “AI is on the way” for them in the next few years, there are valid reasons to be both optimistic and concerned.
“There are unquestionably opportunities as well as worries there, and a lot depends on whether or not as a lawyer you are inclined to be entrepreneurial and adventurous or you’re inclined to work as you have done,” he explained.
Nevertheless, Susskind said, “It’s a remarkably exciting period to be involved in legal technology because of the emergence of new forms of AI.”
Additionally, “AI and other technologies are enabling machines to take on many of the tasks that many used to think required human lawyers and that’s not plateauing. It seems to be happening at quite a rate.”
