Mary
Meeker’s
recent
“Trends
in
Artificial
Intelligence”
report
didn’t
get
much
legal
tech
fanfare
but
it
should.
It
contains
insights
and
information
that
lawyers
and
legal
professionals
simply
can’t
afford
to
ignore.
Meeker
is
a
former
Wall
Street
analyst
turned
venture
capitalist,
best
known
for
her
long-running
annual
Internet
Trends
reports.
Running
from
1995
to
2019,
her
reports
were
some
of
the
most
respected
and
reliable
surveys
about
internet
trends
and
usage.
I
have
written
about
her
reports
before.
The
AI
Trends
Report
Meeker’s
AI
report
contains
data
and
analysis
lawyers
need
to
be
considering
when
they
look
to
the
future
and
engage
in
any
long-term
planning
(yes,
“lawyers”
and
“long-term
planning”
in
the
same
sentence
is
a
bit
of
an
oxymoron).
As
Meeker
puts
it
at
the
outset,
“breakthroughs
in
large
models,
cost-per-token
declines,
open
source
proliferation,
and
chip
performance
are
making
tech
advances
increasingly
more
powerful,
accessible,
and
economically
viable.”
She
continues:
“Rapid
advances
in
artificial
intelligence,
compute
infrastructure,
and
global
connectivity
are
fundamentally
reshaping
how
work
gets
done,
how
capital
is
deployed,
and
how
leadership
is
defined.”
Let
that
sink
in.
As
I’ve
said
before,
legal
needs
to
start
thinking
today
about
how
future
work
will
be
done,
how
it
will
be
valued,
and
how
the
definition
of
a
“good
lawyer”
is
evolving.
Backed
by
solid
data,
Meeker
confirms
that
change
is
now
happening
faster
than
ever.
She
calls
AI
a
“compounder,”
which
enables
“wicked
fast
adoption”
of
easy-to-use
services.
These
are
key
points
when
thinking
about
what’s
next
for
AI,
LLMs,
and
their
impact
on
legal.
AI
Today
Meeker
backs
these
ideas
up
with
ChatGPT
usage
data.
Consider
10
things
AI
can
already
do:
-
Write
or
edit
anything
from
emails,
contracts,
even
poems,
instantly
and
fluently. -
Summarize
and
explain
complex
material. -
Tutor
extensively
on
any
subject. -
Be
a
thinking
partner. -
Roleplay
anyone. -
Connect
to
tools
like
spreadsheets,
calendar
or
the
internet. -
Offer
therapy
and
companionship. -
Help
find
purpose
and
define
long
term
strategy
by
clarifying
values
and
goals
and
mapping
relevant
actions. -
Organize
your
life.
How
many
law
firms
are
thinking
strategically
about
what
AI
can
now
do
and
how
that
affects
(or
could
affect)
their
practice?
More
importantly,
how
are
they
using
those
capabilities
to
actually
improve
what
they
do
and
how
they
do
it?
Understanding
today’s
these
capabilities
is
a
prerequisite
to
preparing
for
what
the
systems
will
be
able
do
in
the
future.
And
the
changes
those
capabilities
will
usher
in.
In
Five
Years
Meeker
cites
what
ChatGPT
thinks
AI
tools
will
be
able
to
do
in
five
years:
-
Generate
human
level
text,
code
and
logic. -
Create
full-length
films
and
games.
(Particularly
challenging
for
litigators
and
courts
facing
deep
fake
challenges.) -
Understand
and
speak
like
a
human.
(See
above.) -
Power
advanced
person
assistants-coordinating
across
apps
and
devices. -
Operate
humanlike
robots:
household
helpers,
elder
care
and
retail
and
hospitality
automation. -
Run
automated
customer
service
and
sales.
(Imagine
the
delivery
of
automated
legal
services
in
a
virtual,
no
cost
fashion.) -
Personalize
entire
digital
lives:
adaptive
learning,
curated
content
and
individualized
legal
and
health
coaching -
Build
and
run
autonomous
businesses.
Is
legal
ready
for
this? -
Drive
autonomous
discovery
in
science.
(And
in
legal.) -
Collaborate
creatively
like
a
partner.
Co-write
novels
and
music.
Or
act
as
the
senior
partner
mentor?
All
of
these
developments
will
inevitably
affect
legal
in
just
five
years
if
not
sooner.
How
many
are
planning
for
this?
Is
law
firm
management
taking
these
possibilities
into
account
in
formulating
their
strategic
plans?
They
damn
well
should
be.
In
10
Years
But
what
if
we
go
out
10
years.
Here’s
what
AI
systems
could
be
capable
of:
•
Simulate
human-like
minds.
•
Operate
fully
autonomous
companies.
•
Perform
complex
physical
tasks
with
precision.
•
Coordinate
global
systems
in
real
time.
•
Model
entire
biological
systems.
•
Deliver
expert
decisions.
•
Influence
public
debate
and
shape
policy.
•
Build
immersive,
fully
interactive
virtual
worlds.
The
10-year
outlook
is
less
about
how
lawyers
work
and
more
about
what
they’ll
even
be
doing.
What
kinds
of
disputes
will
exist?
How
will
they
be
resolved?
What
will
the
legal
and
factual
issues
of
the
next
decade
look
like?
Smart
firms
and
in-house
teams
should
be
asking
these
questions
now.
Is
anyone
listening?
Bueller?
AI
Agents
And
all
this
ignores
the
coming
development
of
AI
agents
that
can
reason,
act,
and
complete
multistep
tasks.
Meeker
says,
“They
don’t
just
answer
questions
–
they
execute:
booking
meetings,
submitting
reports,
logging
into
tools,
or
orchestrating
workflows
across
platforms,
often
using
natural
language
as
their
command
layer.”
Meeker
observes
it’s
still
early
in
the
development
of
these
agents.
But
the
implications
are
massive.
These
agents
will
reshape
how
users
interact
with
AI
across
research,
scheduling,
and
operations.
Thinking
about
how
this
will
impact
to
legal
workflows
is
critical:
from
staffing
to
valuing
services
to
rethinking
how
lawyers
spend
their
time
will
change.
Artificial
General
Intelligence
We
haven’t
even
gotten
to
Artificial
General
Intelligence,
systems
capable
of
handling
the
full
range
of
human
intellectual
tasks.
Meeker
admits
the
timeline
is
uncertain,
but
notes
that
“expert
expectations
have
shifted
forward
meaningfully
in
recent
years.”
Exponential
Change
Meeker
makes
a
good
point:
development
is
moving
exponentially.
Global
AI
adoption
is
happening
at
breakneck
speed
and
with
it,
faster,
cheaper,
more
capable
tools.
Meeker
notes
a
100%
spike
in
developers,
startups,
and
apps
in
just
four
years.
Who
knows
what’s
coming
next
or
when?
Here’s
an
insightful
quote
from
Nvidia’s
Jensen
Huang
that
Meeker
includes
in
her
Report:
“In
10
years,
you’ll
look
back
and
realize
AI
has
integrated
into
everything.
We
need
AI
everywhere.”
Lawyers
and
legal
professionals
who
don’t
accept
this
and
plan
for
it
risk
getting
left
behind.
Not
just
by
forward-looking
legal
competitors,
but
by
entirely
new,
unimagined
businesses
and
models.
Where
Does
All
This
Leave
Us?
Meeker
is
one
of
the
most
astute
observers
of
tech’s
impact
and
where
things
are
headed.
She’s
been
right
more
times
than
not.
Based
on
her
report,
the
well-worn
legal
management
strategy
of
driving
forward
while
staring
in
the
rearview
mirror
simply
isn’t
going
to
work
anymore.
Stephen
Embry
is
a
lawyer,
speaker,
blogger
and
writer.
He
publishes TechLaw
Crossroads,
a
blog
devoted
to
the
examination
of
the
tension
between
technology,
the
law,
and
the
practice
of
law.