The First Artificially Intelligent Lawyer

By Julia Alicandri

Tech Insider recently published an article about the first artificially intelligent lawyer. ROSS – the name of the artificial intelligence (AI) – can search court rulings from 13 years ago, along with opinions about the case at hand and its significance to past court verdicts. The AI lawyer searches through massive amounts of data for each case, and the more a user interacts with ROSS, the more speed and knowledge the server gains. ROSS also sifts through all of this information and provides the user with only highly relevant data. ROSS even operates in plain language, which is a huge step in artificial intelligence, as current systems search and process data in list form, which is not how court rulings and cases are documented.

ROSS was recently ‘hired’ at a bankruptcy firm, and several other firms have requested the AI lawyer as well. In the United States, 80% of people who need a lawyer can’t afford one. This supercomputer will help lower the costs of legal services, because it won’t be necessary for attorneys to pay a human to research cases. Additionally, attorneys will be able to give more attention to the needs of their clients. ROSS is incredibly useful, but one can’t help but wonder about other jobs which artificial intelligence could potentially take away. What about other jobs related to the field, such as court reporting? If tech companies can invent this supercomputer, will they be able to build ROSS a cousin that can transcribe the spoken word as accurate as a human being?

Although there has long been speculation that technology will take over the profession, multiple reports predict that court reporting is a career here to stay. This is because court reporters possess the skills to provide an accurate record regardless of distractions, background noises, accents, or inaudible speech. If need be, a human can also ask a witness to speak up or to repeat a response on the record. Not only is court reporting a relevant and often lucrative profession, there is also a grave shortage of court reporters looming. By 2018, it is projected that there will be approximately 5,500 new court reporter jobs in the United States. This is mainly because of retirement rates, as 70 percent of court reporters are 46 and older. Sorry, artificial intelligence. This is one career you won’t be replacing anytime soon.

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