AI AND WORKFORCE ISSUES

ERIN M. BURKE, J.D.

NOVEMBER 12-13, 2015ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

PANEL 1 DISCUSSION: WORKFORCE ISSUES

AI'S IMPACT ON GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR LAWYER JOBS▸ Brawn v. Brain discomfort

▸ Technology has been long replacing lawyering brawn (e.g. filing, case retrieval, document review), but now forms of AI are offering to replace brains (e.g. computational law, simulated reasoning, settlement analytics)

PANEL 1 DISCUSSION: WORKFORCE ISSUES

AI'S IMPACT ON GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR LAWYER JOBS▸ Is this the end of lawyer's work?

▸ No, my prognosis for legal jobs is rather optimistic.▸ First, a welcomed, nearing end to "garden variety" case

work, creating opportunities for lawyers to take on more challenging and complex cases (that will then further train AI). There will always be something unprecedented.

▸ Second, new job creation for "lawyer engineers" who will train AI and evaluate AI's performance in law.

▸ AI may be the end of the paralegal role.

PANEL 1 DISCUSSION: WORKFORCE ISSUES

AI'S IMPACT ON GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR LAWYER JOBS▸ Will we see a radically different profession soon?

▸ Prognosis: pessimistic. Lawyers are notoriously resistant to technology and change. A critical mass of lawyer-meets-technophile has yet to develop. Lots of lawyers; lots of engineers.

▸ I'm starting small at Fordham University (pre-law students engaging in Watson, Big Data Symposia, Computer Science courses) and encouraging others in education to do so too.

▸ Public Sector and Government is fertile ground for change, though.▸ Landscape: High volume + need for consistency + similar problems + limited

budget. ▸ Solution: To achieve above effectively, limit human involvement in the execution

of a human-designed process.▸ Conclusion: progress requires either internal embrace or external disruption. My bet

is on the latter (an easy bet because it is already happening).