Lawyers and Robots
22 December 2017Manfred Küng
Artificial intelligence is at our doorstep.
In recent weeks the news has reported that “truck platooning“ is the next generation mobility all over Europe. Grouping trucks into platoons will allow many trucks to accelerate or brake simultaneously. The driver in the first truck is in the lead; the following trucks are related “smart trucks” that drive on the basis of artificial intelligence and are able to join or leave the platoon automatically. This is not science-fiction. The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment initiated the European Truck Platooning Challenge in 2016. In spring 2018, trucks made by MAN will start test drives with the German logistics group DB Schenker, and SBB Swiss Federal Railways wants to test drive in Switzerland. Artificial intelligence really is at the doorstep.
Since the days of Cato and Cicero, no one thinks that daily life will work without lawyers somewhere in the scene. Now even in the field of law, artificial intelligence is knocking at the door.
The future client will always want to talk to a lawyer, that is not the question. Business and conflict is people's business. But the question is how much legal work will be executed through artificial intelligence robots instead of human legal support or a legal researcher. It will definitely result in less workload for legal staff and it will result in more competition between lawyers.
In his book „The Rise of the Robots“ Martin Ford tells the story of an article written in October 2009 by a sportswriter, how the Los Angeles Angels prevailed over the Boston Red Socks in a baseball game. This sportswriter will not win the Pulitzer Prize, because the prize is only given to human beings and the article was written by a computer using software called „StatsMonkey“. If „StatsMonkey“ was able to compose an article about a baseball game in 2009, why wouldn’t in 2018 „LawMonkey“ be able to compose a motion in a divorce case?
In most jurisdictions the motion for divorce is reduced to facts processible by algorithms: name, address, birthday, income, etc. Push the button and the “Deus ex Machina” will provide the divorce. And just as easily, I could provide examples regarding traffic offences, employment law, tenancy law and any other law-commodity market.
The conclusion is simple: as long as it can be put into algorithms, the physical lawyer is expendable. Lawyers will have to cope with this phenomenon, embrace the technology and develop a strategy for how to use this development for the benefit of our clients. Meanwhile I profoundly believe that “reasonableness and fairness” will be difficult to put in algorithms and that our role as “trusted advisor” will survive these developments.
For further information, contact:
Dr. Manfred Küng, Rechtsanwalt & Senior Partner
Küng Lawyers, Zurich
t: +41 44 2174000