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ChatGPT may be the most well-known use of generative AI—with over 100 millions users—but it’s certainly not the only use. Big businesses like Microsoft, Google, and AWS have all invested in GenAI solutions for their products. Smaller tech companies, like ours, have also invested in GenAI—in ways that are secure and scalable for legal teams.
So let’s talk about the differences between AI, ChatGPT, and generative AI, and how day-to-day legal tasks will be changed by these advancements in artificial intelligence.
AI, ChatGPT, and Generative AI — what’s the difference?
First, just so we’re on the same page, let’s clarify what exactly we mean when we say generative AI—and no, it’s not the same as AI or ChatGPT.
To help you navigate, here’s a quick AI glossary:
AI (artificial intelligence) refers to the capability of computer systems to mimic human cognitive tasks like problem-solving and learning.
Machine learning (ML) is an application of AI that allows machines to learn these capabilities by autonomously extracting knowledge from data and capturing it in a mathematical model.
Generative AI (GenAI) is a class of ML models that, given a prompt, can generate output such as text, images, code, video, music, etc.
Large Language Models (LLMs) are generally—though not necessarily—within the realm of GenAI models that are trained on huge corpuses of data, such as the entire public internet, and contain billions of parameters.
GPT refers to a set of LLM models that were trained by the company OpenAI (the latest version as of this writing is GPT-4). The acronym expands to Generative Pre-trained Transformer, and references a kind of building block of these ML models, called a “transformer”, that was invented at Google in 2017 and became widely known via their famous paper, “Attention is All You Need”. GPT can be used for a variety of tasks, from chatting to summarizing medical transcripts. But this is not the only LLM out there; Google has released Bard, Anthropic has released Claude, and there are several open-source LLMs on the market too.
ChatGPT refers to a chatbot that was trained on special chat transcript data and built on top of GPT models by OpenAI. It’s specifically designed to have a conversational interface and can be thought of as one application of LLMs.
When I speak about the transformational change coming to industry because of the new wave of AI, I’m specifically referencing LLMs such as GPT, Bard, and Claude, and applying them to the legal domain.
GenAI is speeding up contract review
So let’s talk about how GenAI is impacting legal solutions, like contract lifecycle management software.
GenAI introduces novel capabilities for legal work, notably the ability to autonomously review and annotate contracts based on a company's guidelines. For instance, our AI can identify clauses conflicting with rules about payment timelines, logo usage, and dispute resolution. Even in these use cases, GenAI isn't flawless. As you’re building generative AI solutions into your legal work, you’ll still want human attorneys to verify and refine its output.
These AI assistants, like the one we’ve embedded in Microsoft Word, already showcase time savings of 30% to 80% in contract reviews. They aid in suggesting legal text for new clauses, modifying existing contract language, and learning from a company's contract collection. Given the vast annual contract volume across industries, this feature holds substantial time-savings potential.
AI can also aid in completing RFPs, DPAs, and security questionnaires based on prior responses. Despite imperfections, they accelerate processes for legal, IT, and Finance teams involved in deal-making. To mitigate risks, tools that limit and highlight legal concerns are crucial.
While AI's role in law isn't new, GenAI's emergence brings transformative potential to contract analysis and markup, complementing human expertise. As the legal sector embraces these advancements, contract management and negotiation processes stand to be significantly streamlined.
GenAI helps business users complete legal tasks
At Lexion, we’ve seen how GenAI’s impact on day-to-day legal work extends beyond legal teams. Finance, IT, HR, sales, and procurement, everyone in your business that touches contracts is able to speed up their workflow.
GenAI can make these already powerful no-code automation tools even more impactful. For example, this technology allows users to add steps that parse and understand emails. With such a capability, it would be easy to design a workflow that automatically responds to a user asking for help obtaining an NDA, captures the relevant details, prepares the contract, collects signatures, and after it's signed, files it away and notifies the requestor—all automatically (similar to Lexion’s "no-code" workflow solution).
GenAI can also assist with immediate inquiries of low legal risk. Instead of awaiting context from the legal team, it swiftly provides contract details and acts as a live Q&A chatbot, facilitating comprehension. Integrations with existing systems like CRMs, Procure-to-Pay, and HRIS enhance accessibility.
This innovation liberates legal teams from interruptions, allowing you to get deals done faster. GenAI's influence fosters a distinct competitive advantage, reshaping how businesses operate.
Lawyers and business leaders, here’s what to do now
As an AI company founder and a seasoned product manager, here’s what I know: a sea change is coming.
Advancements in GenAI are not overpromises but real solutions in today's market. Lawyers, this is cause for celebration! Tedious tasks like contract retrieval can now be automated, freeing you up to focus on higher-value work. Embrace this transformation, as adaptation offers growth. Learn about available tools from peers, webinars, and legal communities. Understand, it's the collaboration between humans and AI that triumphs.
Business leaders, take action. Elevate your teams with GenAI tools for operational excellence, facilitating swifter deals and customer wins. Empower learning and experimentation to address key pain points.
Learn more about how Lexion is using award-winning AI to solve real business challenges or book a demo today.
