Artificial Intelligence and Law: An Overview

Much has been written recently about artificial intelligence (AI) and law. But what is AI, and what is its relation to the practice and administration of law? This article addresses those questions by providing a high-level overview of AI and its use within law. The discussion aims to be nuanced but also understandable to those without a technical background.

To that end, I first discuss AI generally. I then turn to AI and how it is being used by lawyers in the practice of law, people and companies who are governed by the law, and government officials who administer the law. A key motivation in writing this article is to provide a realistic, demystified view of AI that is rooted in the actual capabilities of the technology. This is meant to contrast with discussions about AI and law that are decidedly futurist in nature.

That body of work speculates about the effects of AI developments that do not currently exist and which may, or may not, ever come about. Although those futurist conversations have their place, it is important to acknowledge that they involve significant, sometimes unsupported, assumptions about where the technology is headed. That speculative discussion often distracts from the important, but perhaps less exotic, law and policy issues actually raised by AI technology today.