In this episode of The Geek in Review, hosts Greg Lambert and Marlene Gebauer interview three guests from UK law firm Travers Smith about their work on AI: Chief Technology Officer Oliver Bethel, Director of Legal Technology Sean Curran, and AI Manager Sam Lansley. They discuss Travers Smith's approach to testing and applying AI tools like generative models.
A key focus is finding ways to safely leverage AI while mitigating risks like copyright issues and hallucination. Travers Smith built an internal chatbot called YCNbot to experiment with generative AI through secure enterprise APIs. They are being cautious on the generative side but see more revolutionary impact from reasoning applications like analyzing documents.
Travers Smith has open sourced tools like YCNbot to spur responsible AI adoption. Collaboration with 273 Ventures helped build in multi-model support. The team is working on reducing dependence on manual prompting and increasing document analysis capabilities. They aim to be model-agnostic to hedge against reliance on a single vendor.
On model safety, Travers Smith emphasizes training data legitimacy, multi-model flexibility, and probing hallucination risks. They co-authored a paper on subtle errors in legal AI. Dedicated roles like prompt engineers are emerging to interface between law and technology. Travers Smith is exploring AI for tasks like contract review but not yet for work product.
When asked about the crystal ball for legal AI, the guests predicted the need for equitable distribution of benefits, growth in reasoning applications vs. generative ones, and movement toward more autonomous agents over manual prompting. Info providers may gain power over intermediaries applying their data.
This wide-ranging discussion provides an inside look at how one forward-thinking firm is advancing legal AI in a prudent and ethical manner. With an open source mindset, Travers Smith is exploring boundaries and sharing solutions to propel the responsible use of emerging technologies in law.
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Music: Jerry David DeCicca
Transcript
The Who, What, and Why of #LegalTech with Kristin Hodgins and Jason Wilson
The Boston Legal Design Challenge Update - Jeff Marple, Bob Taylor, and Aubrie Souza
Tracy LaLonde and The Joychiever Journey
Consumer Arbitration Made Easier with FairShake's Teel Lidow
Spotting Bias and Politicization of Local News Sources - Loyd Auerbach and Dave Boitano
Helping Startups Get Their Start - Dr. Jacqueline Walsh
Stephen Embry - The Future of the Law Office Won't Need Everyone to be in the Office
Douglas Ferguson on Doing the Work in the Meeting
Richard Hsu on Why Law Firms Will Need Lawyers to Return to the Office
Using Data Analytics to Tell Your Story with RStudio's Sarah Lin
The Boston Legal Design Challenge with Jeff Marple, Robert Taylor, and Gabriel Teninbaum
Olga Mack on Valuing Your Skills, Reputation, and Determination
Phil Flora on Leopard Solution’s New Gender and Ethnic Diversity Tool
Using Data to Really Know Your Clients and Predict Their Needs - David Kamien
Williams Lea CEO, Clare Hart on Letting Lawyers Do What They Do Best… Practice Law
Andrea Markstrom and the i.WILL Forum. Women Empowering Women
The Law Firm Antiracism Alliance - Brenna DeVaney
Law Firm Culture and Marketing, and How to Market Law Firm Culture - Barbara Malin and Jennifer Johnson
#Barpocalypse - Cat Moon, Brian L. Frye, Stefanie Mundhenk
Yes, And… A Return to KM 101 - Eugene Cipparone
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