AI And Legal Research
Ankit Kumar
Faculty Of Law, Banaras Hindu University
This blog is written by · Ankit Kumar, a Second-year law student of Faculty Of Law, Banaras Hindu University.
UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF AI:
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE or AI was first invented by JOHN McCarthy in 1955.
AI is the stimulation of human intelligence which is processed by machines, especially computer systems. It refers to those computer systems that are capable of performing complex tasks that were believed to be done only by humans in the past such as reasoning power, making decisions, or even problem-solving.
Today AI has been developed widely and many applications, mobile phones even gadgets are also instilled with built-in AI features.
AI is an Umbrella term that includes a wide variety of technologies like machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing.
· Common examples of AI:
Ø ChatGPT: It uses large language models (LLMs) basically to generate text in response to questions or any comments posed to it.
Ø Netflix: It uses machine learning algorithms that create personalized recommendation engines.
Ø Other examples include Snapchat, amazon’s Alexa, apple’s Seri, etc.
· Types Of AI:
Ø Reactive machines: these are the most common type of AI. Machines built in this do not use previous events knowledge.
Ø Limited memory machines: machines built in this way use a limited understanding of past events.
Ø Self-aware machines and Theory of mind machine: the most advanced form of AI, machines using this can understand the outer world, itself, and others.
v Understanding the concept of Legal Research:
§ Legal research means tasks that usually involve finding primary sources of law.
§ Legal research is done in many settings like writing research papers and finding the position of law in certain issues.
§ For example, whenever an advocate makes a statement in the courtroom it must be supported by law and previously decided cases.
Types :
§ Descriptive legal research: here the main focus is on “what has happened?” and “what is happening?” and not on “why it has happened?”
§ Analytical legal research: already available facts and information are used in this method.
§ Conceptual and Empirical legal research: it makes use of experiments, and existing facts used to formulate new concepts from it.
§ Top website for legal research: “Indian Kanoon, Livelaw, Bar and Bench, SCC online, Manupatra, etc.”
o AI and legal research:
· In simple terms, AI in the field of the legal profession means automating tasks that are usually done by legal professionals.
· This can include document review, research-related works, bare provisions, and recent judgments. Many a time it's quite difficult to navigate in libraries and find case-related documents or books, it's quite boring and time-consuming, hence with the help of AI - modern technology not only saves time but boosts all these hefty works within a period.
o How lawyers use AI at law firms:
· Repetitive tasks: With this feature, lawyers can automate repetitive tasks and they have enough time to focus on other human-centric tasks such as preparing for a case.
· Contract review: using AI will help streamline document analysis and contract review processes, even identifying common liners and clauses will become easier.
· Legal research: AI in legal research can search through hundreds and thousands of relevant documents within seconds. It makes legal research easier, accurate, and efficient.
· eDiscovery: with the help of AI the task of finding relevant documents and finding evidence for a particular case can be automated, thereby saving time and money.
o AI applications for legal research:
· Kira system: this system offers accurate information for due diligence in contract reviews.
· JP Morgan: it was developed by the in-house legal technology tools and this tool extracts information about contracts and commercial credit agreements, which is mainly used by bank lawyers.
· e-Bravia: This tool was developed so that vital textual data from contracts and other documents can be extracted. In this copied text can be converted into searchable text.
· Ross intelligence: this AI tool helps lawyers by offering natural language it allows lawyers to ask questions and receive answers which include case laws, relevant information, headings, and secondary sources.
· Legal Robot: this AI tool helps in raising issues within the document and converts legal content into numeric form.
v Finding case laws with AI tools: AI tools like “FOREFRONT, SCHOLARCY AI, GRAMMARLY AI, MONICA AI, SCITE AI, LAWBOT AI, POE.COM AI, MERLIN AI, GEMINI AI, Microsoft’s Co-Pilot”.
§ Supreme Court’s view on using AI:
o Since 2021, the Supreme Court has been using AI tools designed for processing information. And also making it available to the judges to review the decisions taken. However, it does not take part in the decision-making process.
o Supreme Court uses “SUVAS- Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software” which is used in translating legal papers from English to any regional language and vice versa.
ü CASE LAW: summary:
Jaswinder Singh vs. State of Punjab and Anr. (2022)
In this case, the Punjab Haryana High Court rejected a bail petition because of an allegation of the prosecution that the petitioner was involved in a brutal fatal assault. Afterwards, the presiding judge requested input from ChatGPT but this tool does not express an opinion on the case matter. Now, it was concluded that ChatGPT does not give opinions. It just gives information on questions asked, AI tools cannot think like humans rather it's just a model to provide answers to questions asked without any emotions and opinions.
§ Conclusion:
Although AI tools are very developed and need of the hour we have to remember that it's just a tool and just can not think like humans. It’s emotionless and opinionless and even does not provide correct answers as per situations sometimes. However, AI tools are a boon for legal research to search and get all information within seconds rather than spending hours and hours in the library searching for books. It’s a key for legal research.
References:
https://blog.ipleaders.in/ai-in-legal-research-and-document-review/
https://www.casepoint.com/resources/spotlight/leveraging-ai-document-review-law-firms/