HBO’s Vice News features LawGeex in its latest special report on “The Future of Work.” And in a repeat of the AI vs. Lawyer competition this time officiated by Vice News, the LawGeex AI came out ahead.
On Friday, April 19, 2019, Vice News reported on the technological revolution overtaking the world in transportation, distribution, food service, health – and legal.
Not only is technology better at low-level tasks, it can often add value in areas previously unimaginable. In the special, Andrew McAfee, Co-Director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, commented on the advancement of machine learning. “What we’re seeing is that computers are better at pattern matching than we are, even the expert human beings.”
Turning to the legal world, Vice News Correspondent and Producer Gianna Toboni came to LawGeex’s New York City office to put the AI to the test.
Vice News presented both LawGeex and a human lawyer they selected with two NDAs, one which was four-pages long and the other two-pages long. And with a ceremonial wave of a scarf, the two sides began their review.
We brought in a real-life lawyer to go up against the AI system LawGeex to find out who is faster, and better, at screening a non-disclosure agreement. pic.twitter.com/DbwFKKWGTC
— VICE News (@vicenews) April 20, 2019
The results: LawGeex bested the human lawyer. Tunji Williams, graduate of the Top 10 Law School at the University of Virginia, took over an hour to review the two documents which he did with 85% and 83% accuracy, respectively. LawGeex, operated by LawGeex CEO Noory Bechor, spent just 18 minutes reviewing and achieved 95% accuracy on both contracts.
Toboni asked why Williams didn’t seem disappointed with the result. Williams answered, “I wasn’t disappointed when the iPhone came out and I could do more things with this piece of technology, so this is exciting to me.”
In an interview with Bechor, Toboni drew a picture of a legal world in flux. “McKinsey says that 22% of a lawyer’s job, 35% of a paralegal’s job can now – today – be automated. So then what happens?” Posing the inevitable question, Toboni asked whether we still need lawyers.
Bechor answered confidently, “Absolutely. Defining the policy, serving as the escalation point, handling negotiation, and handling more complex contract categories.” These are and should be the role of lawyers.
“You have a new generation of lawyers that are much more tech savvy. The ones that can actually leverage technology are the ones that manage to prosper,” said Bechor.
Visit Vice to learn more about VICE Special Report: The Future of Work or to watch the full episode.
