The world's first artificially intelligent lawyer was just hired at a law firm

Superman · May 16, 2016

Lawyers can get a bad reputation for being slimy and conniving, but ROSS has neither of those qualities.

Ask ROSS to look up an obscure court ruling from 13 years ago, and ROSS will not only search for the case in an instant — without contest or complaint — but it'll offer opinions in plain language about the old ruling's relevance to the case at hand.

Just about the only thing it can't do is fetch coffee.

Not that anyone should blame it, seeing as ROSS is a piece of artificial intelligence software. It uses the supercomputing power of IBM Watson to comb through huge batches of data and, over time, learn how to best serve its users.

"Judges' decisions are written in everyday language and not issued in columns and rows, which is what current computer systems digest best," Andrew Arruda, the CEO and co-founder of ROSS Intelligence, tells Tech Insider.

The challenge in building ROSS, he says, was finding a way to make it as intuitive as an actual colleague. That meant programming it to respond to people's normal manner of speaking, not just keyword-loaded fragments.

But the hard work seems to have paid off, as ROSS was just unveiled as a "new hire" at the law firm Baker & Hostetler, which handles bankruptcy cases. Arruda says several other firms have signed licenses to employ ROSS' services, and their announcements will be made in the coming weeks.

In Arruda's perfect world, all law firms would harness the power of AI in order to serve justice. Right now, about 80% of Americans who need a lawyer can't afford one, he says. This is despite the country having a surplus of attorneys on tap.

"With ROSS, lawyers can scale their abilities and start to service this very large untapped market of Americans in need," Arruda says.

In other words, by using AI lawyers like ROSS, law firms could charge lower fees since they wouldn't be paying humans (who generally prefer to get paid for their work) to handle clients' cases. In addition, those lawyers currently out of work could use AI services like ROSS, which offer a lower barrier of entry into the market, to create more affordable options for clients.

And when it comes time for opposing law firms to battle it out in court, it'd be in everyone's best interest to have a computing whiz at both parties' disposal, Arruda says.

"The law is the same for both parties," Arruda says. "No matter if you have 20 associates doing research on a case, or just one equipped with ROSS, the relevant passages will be found for you."

In that way, the company sees the software as a force that levels a playing field that many tend to see as unfairly tilted depending on who's got the deepest pockets.

"With ROSS," Arruda says, "lawyers can focus on advocating for their client and being creative rather than spending hours swimming though hundreds of links, reading through hundreds of pages of cases looking for the passages of law they need to do their job."

Read the original article on Tech Insider. Follow Tech Insider on Facebook and Twitter. Copyright 2016.
Click to expand...

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-first-artificially-intelligent-lawyer-gets-hired-2016-5

nodnarbusn · May 16, 2016

No No No. This is how it begins, next we'll have a robot judge.

Guess what, the sentence is death to humans. I've seen this movie before. Silent Green is people.

Wonderland · May 16, 2016

I'll take the lawyer that I know won't malfunction mid-case, thanks. This is just bizarre.

malakadang · May 17, 2016

The AI might be good at locating precedents, and saving a considerable amount of time in research, but it's still not yet at the stage where it can apply the law. Lawyers will still have to read hundreds of pages to contextualize the precedent anyway, it's just that now they'll only have to read the relevant ones (assuming the AI is incredibly accurate). It'll be interesting to see what happens in 5-10 years time, and how AI generally improves.

Kiro said: ↑

I'll take the lawyer that I know won't malfunction mid-case, thanks. This is just bizarre.
Click to expand...

Don't worry, AI won't be at the advocacy level for a long time, only the research level.

Dixo · May 17, 2016

nodnarbusn said: ↑

No No No. This is how it begins, next we'll have a robot judge.

Guess what, the sentence is death to humans. I've seen this movie before. Silent Green is people.
Click to expand...

Skynet is coming! I'll be back!

Noble · May 17, 2016

Hamouze · May 17, 2016

Interesting. It seems more like an easily accesible database than an AI Lawyer. It's not like it's actually going to trial.

Verd · May 17, 2016

Hamouze said: ↑

Interesting. It seems more like an easily accesible database than an AI Lawyer. It's not like it's actually going to trial.
Click to expand...

And a friend.

Sonia · May 18, 2016

This is actually an interesting read, but I definitely think the robot wont have the level of intellect to apply the law to the new scenarios and cases. Would be a handy research tool for students, compared tp trying to understand law itself. I definitely would not want to see a robot judge. /:

Esco_vX · May 20, 2016

What is this? Robocop? :O

I don't like the idea of this .. hmm

Soil · May 20, 2016

Would like to see how it goes tbh

BlackBlasses · May 20, 2016

nodnarbusn said: ↑

No No No. This is how it begins, next we'll have a robot judge.
Guess what, the sentence is death to humans. I've seen this movie before. Silent Green is people.
Click to expand...

yeah, it is little bit scary. Good servant, but a bad master.

Verd said: ↑

And a friend.
Click to expand...

Dovidas?

Soil said: ↑

Would like to see how it goes tbh
Click to expand...

Yep, me too. I really like the idea.

I want RSPS gold · May 24, 2016

Borderline scary tbh. Too much technology is just trouble.

matroos · May 29, 2016

Very interesting, wont defend myself with some computer though.

Superfluous · May 29, 2016

Hamouze said: ↑

Interesting. It seems more like an easily accesible database than an AI Lawyer. It's not like it's actually going to trial.
Click to expand...

this is accurate. no one else read the article / knows what the vast majority of lawyers actually do. this is just like creating a new lookup table or something that you can yell at to find stuff it would otherwise take ages to find. sounds like a tremendously good idea to me

Superman · May 30, 2016

Totally forgot about this thread. Yeah, ROSS isn't capable of advocating for a client, however it is capable of locating relevant case data. This will make legal disputes much fairer in adversarial systems (like the legal system in the US)

taken from the article:

"With ROSS," Arruda says, "lawyers can focus on advocating for their client and being creative rather than spending hours swimming though hundreds of links, reading through hundreds of pages of cases looking for the passages of law they need to do their job."
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

The world's first artificially intelligent lawyer was just hired at a law firm

Superman Legend

nodnarbusn Grand Master

Wonderland spokesman

malakadang Hero

Dixo Forum Addict

Noble Cheapest 07 Gold! Will Beat Any Other seller. Add My skype!

Hamouze Grand Master

Verd Forum Addict

A Beautiful Soul and a Heart of Gold. <3

Esco_vX Forum Addict

Soil Forum Addict

Runestake.com - Social Casino

I want RSPS gold Newcomer

matroos Active Member

Superfluous Rainbet.com Casino & Sportsbook

Superman Legend

Log in or Sign up

The world's first artificially intelligent lawyer was just hired at a law firm

Thread Tools

Superman Legend

nodnarbusn Grand Master

Wonderland spokesman

malakadang Hero

Dixo Forum Addict

Noble Cheapest 07 Gold! Will Beat Any Other seller. Add My skype!

Hamouze Grand Master

Verd Forum Addict

A Beautiful Soul and a Heart of Gold. <3

Esco_vX Forum Addict

Soil Forum Addict

Runestake.com - Social Casino

I want RSPS gold Newcomer

matroos Active Member

Superfluous Rainbet.com Casino & Sportsbook

Superman Legend