Why Lawsuits Will Become A Thing Of The Past With This New Technology

The issue of artificial intelligence in law is becoming an increasingly relevant subject. Many legal companies are already using advanced technology to take care of routine work, and now it seems AI is set to deal with legal issues before they ever have a chance to make it to court.

Tech company Intraspexion claim to have developed a deep learning system that can alert companies in advance to any risk of having a legal case brought against them. With the average lawsuit costing a company in the US $350,000, it’s easy to see the appeal of ‘preventative law’ technology.

CEO Nick Brestoff explains that these risks are detectable in company emails and other internal communications that no human would be able to spot, effectively eradicating any vulnerability of companies being served with painfully expensive lawsuits.

For now Intraspexion’s deep learning technology has been designed to find the risks of employment discrimination in the work place, but Brestoff explains that this model can be applied to other litigation categories as well, “starting with breach of contract and fraud, and then scaling up to dozens more.”

In a recent article in the Financial Times legal journalist Jane Croft explained why law is an ideal sector for AI to dominate. “AI processes a lot of information and identifies patterns within that information,” She says. “And the more humans interact with it, the more it can learn, suggest, and identify new patterns.” In a profession such as litigation, where looking for patterns is key, “the possibilities for AI […] are awesome, and entirely feasible.”

The question is, what does this shift towards automation mean for the long term future of the legal system? If Intraspexion and similar technologies prove successful this could herald a real change to the structure of the sector. We could even see AI playing a part in the creation of new laws.

Whatever happens, We’ll be keeping our eyes on Intraspexion’s deep learning system, which is due to be displayed at the AI World Conference & Exposition 2016 next week.