My mom was an economist when I was growing up, so I’m well familiar with that old joke, if you put three economists in a room, you get four opinions. Same with us lawyers and our “it depends.” But the thing is, we are not always going to be on the same page with each other on things, and sometimes, I find I’m not even on the same page as myself. (It’s called nuance, darling!)
Some days, I love legal AI. I can’t believe how much time it saved me, or how easy it was to verify its output in a fraction of the time it would take me to produce it from scratch. Some days I’m reading news articles about hallucinations and jobs and I’m less optimistic.
And I think that’s normal and to be expected. We are watching entire systems be reshaped in real time, including and far beyond legal work. We are watching global economies shift and rearrange in active response, laws being formed proactively and reactively, and we are part of that as well. Some days we will be jazzed; some days we will be filled with trepidation.
So, no judging, no gimmickry, just an honest convening here. What do we actually think most of the time?