The Displacement Dilemma: Navigating the Survival of Human Expertise in an AI-Driven World

We may all be out of jobs and careers soon as artificial intelligence (AI) replaces the legal profession. Clients will be able to look up all the law themselves, attend virtual courts and get robo judges to decide the cases for them. That scenario is the bleakest outcome of the likely effect of AI and woe betide any lawyer who is not prepared for this.

This is an interesting and challenging book on the subject, written by an ex-lawyer who is now an expert on speech and other forms of technology, having over a dozen patents in various technical areas. The author examines how AI will change everything and the risks and benefits it brings. The book commences with a discussion of how technological advances have changed their world and professions over the centuries. An obvious example is the invention of moveable type printing and its influence on the spread of new ideas which were current in the Reformation. This volume is not only about lawyers but how other professions, including medicine, will become reliant on AI. It is easier to envisage technology analysing scans and other examinations with a more expert way and more efficiently than the human eye but would you trust it? That is the essence of the problem with technology. It works well when it does but it is only as good as the human operator.

A slight concern I have with the book is it sometimes over uses jargon and other words, especially leverage, which may not be familiar for everyone in the context, well not for me. Perhaps technology will bring new language. A plus point is the good sample business plan for a legal firm to plan for AI. The book ends with excellent appendices with suggestions for further reading.

There is a discussion whether lawyers add 'emotional intelligence' and 'empathy' in a way which machines cannot replicate. I am not entirely convinced that lawyers are strong on either but the point is lawyers rely on their judgment not their knowledge. Anyone can get facts and we have already seen how online court proceedings and DIY probate is becoming more commonplace and is reducing the profession’s work. The traditional high street firm that offered a comprehensive service has largely gone and has been replaced by larger firms that offer skilled technicians in one area of law and never meet the client. What possibly could go wrong?

The questions for us are 'will expensive machines replace cheap humans, and what if it breaks'? The more complicated the more likely to break. Perhaps I am just a Luddite. (Interesting simile as Luddites tried and failed to break up machines.)

Will people trust machines? I suppose yes because people readily trust whatever is on the internet. My feeling is that lawyers like death will always be with us. All technological developments lead to more work not less. The 'white heat' of technology promised in the 1960s did not lead to more leisure.

The book contains interesting insights into the bias discovered in various computer programs that offered a recruiting tool, offender management and prediction of offending all of which had gender, racial or socioeconomic biases. We are introduced to the 'trolley problem', which is about ethical issues such as 'what if a dog runs in front of a driverless car, will the computer think not to swerve into a crowd of children?'

I think this demonstrates my point that AI will produce more work for us. Yes, AI can analyse contracts quickly, but what if someone devises a contract that has devices to guard against analysis or will lawyers only use documents that are easy for a computer to read? Love or hate, dread or welcome AI, we all need to learn more about it and this is a good introduction to the subject.

David Pickup is a partner at Pickup & Scott Solicitors, Aylesbury