It’s no secret that we’re all in when it comes to exploring technological innovations that can simplify the lives of legal professionals. However, the constant flow of artificial intelligence (AI) and tech announcements can be overwhelming—making it hard to stay on top of the latest legal technology news.
We’re here to help. In the following blog post, we highlight some of the more interesting recent tech headlines that could impact lawyers in July 2024.
World’s first “AI reliance insurance” released
While the offerings of AI tools for lawyers have been on the rise, so too have concerns about the potential for—and consequences of—errors due to AI use.
Enter the world’s first “AI Reliance” insurance for accuracy for a legaltech AI product.
Orbital Witness—a UK-based startup that creates AI-powered software to help accelerate legal due diligence and client reporting—recently announced a collaboration with First Title Insurance, part of the First American Financial Corporation, to offer an insurance-backed accuracy guarantee for a legaltech AI product.
As part of this “AI Reliance” insurance, First Title will underwrite Orbital Witness’ generative AI product output. The insurance policy would apply should the generative AI produce an error resulting in a compensation claim.
While this partnership’s scope will initially be limited—to start, First Title will underwrite AI Reliance policies for customers of Orbital Witness’s residential property product—it’s still a major milestone showcasing what’s possible for lawyers who are interested but hesitant to implement AI tools.
According to the 2023 Legal Trends Report, 41% of legal professionals are concerned that AI could open them to professional liability. The potential backing of insurance where AI tools get something wrong, resulting in a claim, could be a game changer.
Moreover, this type of insurance offering could have interesting implications for bar associations’ willingness to endorse particular AI models—especially as the 2023 Legal Trends Report found that 20% of legal professionals believe that bar associations will never approve of lawyers using AI.
Apple brings ChatGPT to iPhones
The AI chatbot tool ChatGPT has generated significant buzz worldwide and rapidly made using AI more mainstream for the public and professionals in many industries. Now, Apple is bringing ChatGPT to iPhones
At its annual developers show, the tech giant announced its partnership with ChatGPT’s developer, OpenAI, which will bring ChatGPT to its Siri voice assistant and operating systems.
Apple will integrate ChatGPT access into iPhone, iPad, and Mac operating systems (specifically iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia) later this year. This will allow users to access ChatGPT directly without moving between tools. Siri will also be able to access ChatGPT’s expertise.
The move is part of Apple’s new personalized AI system, “Apple Intelligence,” which an Apple press release describes as combining “the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that’s incredibly useful and relevant.”
For lawyers working on the go, the ability to easily access ChatGPT from their devices could be useful and time-saving. However, increased ease of access also highlights how important it is for lawyers to be aware of their AI ethical obligations and to stay up-to-date on AI regulations in the law.
ChatGPT-5 release date potentially imminent
Speaking of ChatGPT, anticipation is rising for OpenAI’s upcoming model and the latest version of ChatGPT: ChatGPT-5.
“I expect it to be a significant leap forward,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently said when speaking about ChatGPT-5. “A lot of the things that GPT-4 gets wrong, you know, can’t do much in the way of reasoning, sometimes just sort of totally goes off the rails and makes a dumb mistake, like even a six-year-old would never make.”
An improved ChatGPT model is something that law firms may want to keep an eye on. ChatGPT is a popular AI option for many lawyers, so the potential for expanded capabilities could unlock more opportunities for law firms to harness AI.
However, while many of those closely watching legal technology news speculate that ChatGPT-5 will likely be released this summer, OpenAI has not yet provided a release date.
In the meantime, you can learn more about ChatGPT for lawyers in our blog post.
Google Gemini now available in Gmail
Google is also bringing AI-powered features to apps used daily. At their I/O 2024 conference, Google announced that their AI offering, Gemini (formerly Google Bard), is coming to Gmail.
With the new Gemini AI side panel in Gmail, users can use Gemini to help draft emails, summarize email threads, and search through emails. However, TechCrunch reports that the features are available only to certain customers: Google Workspace customers with a Gemini Business or Enterprise add-on, a Gemini Education or Education Premium add-on, or a Google One AI Premium subscription.
This type of AI upgrade could deliver significant time savings for busy lawyers—making it faster and more efficient to draft or search emails while on the go. However, as with all AI tools, this type of integrated technology makes it even more important for legal professionals to be aware of their ethical obligations when using AI.
Ashurst partners with Harvey AI
Following a firm-wide trial, UK law firm Ashurst recently launched a global partnership with the legal AI platform Harvey.
As part of the partnership, Harvey will become the firm’s first generative AI solution for client work: The firm will provide access to Harvey’s generative AI to its more than 4,000 lawyers and business services staff.
This partnership with a large, global firm marks a significant step for Harvey, which provides AI services specifically for lawyers and law firms. You can learn more about Harvey AI for lawyers in our blog post.
Conclusions on your legal tech news update for July 2024
It’s crucial for lawyers to stay up-to-date on legal tech news, not only to find new ways to improve their practices. Lawyers also need to stay current with legal technology to make informed decisions about how new tech offerings might impact their professional obligations.
Luckily, there are plenty of new and exciting things happening in AI and legal tech, making the process of staying current on legal tech news more exciting than ever! At Clio, for example, we’re excited about our forthcoming generative AI offering, Clio Duo. Clio Duo will serve as a coach, intuitive collaborator, and expert consultant to legal professionals, enabling Clio customers to unlock the potential of their own data, become more effective business owners, and drive better outcomes for their clients.