Section 1: Introduction to Legal Technology in Pittsburgh
This article will explore how Pittsburgh is driving advancements in legal technology, the different types of players within the industry, and how Applied Legal Data Analytics and AI are poised to reshape the legal landscape moving forward.
1a) Pittsburgh: A Growing Hub for AI Innovation
Pittsburgh has long been recognized for its strong ties to the tech industry, with major players like Google, Aurora Innovation, and Duolingo headquartered in the city.
Additionally, renowned institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne Kline School of Law contribute to a thriving innovation and research ecosystem in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
This confluence of technology, academia, and capital has put Pittsburgh in a prime position to lead the charge in legal tech advancements.
1b) Understanding Legal Tech and Its Industry Players
Legal tech encompasses a wide range of tools, platforms, and services that leverage technology to improve the delivery of legal services, streamline legal processes, and enhance overall efficiency in the industry. Key players in the legal tech space can be broadly categorized into the following groups:
- Legal Research and Analytics: Companies that develop AI-powered tools to assist lawyers in conducting legal research, analyzing case law, and predicting case outcomes.
- E-Discovery and Document Review: Companies that offer software and platforms to automate the process of searching, identifying, and reviewing electronically stored information for litigation and investigations.
- Contract Management and Analysis: Companies that provide AI-driven solutions for drafting, reviewing, and managing contracts.
- Practice Management: Companies that develop tools and software to help law firms manage their day-to-day operations, including billing, client intake, and project management.
- Legal Marketplace and Collaboration: Companies that facilitate the connection between clients and legal professionals and enable communication and collaboration within the legal community.
- Compliance and Regulatory Technology: Companies that offer AI-powered solutions to help businesses navigate complex legal and regulatory environments.
c) The inclusion of Applied Legal Data Analytics and AI in the Legal Industry
Newer, more powerful tools are permeating the legal industry. They are expected to bring about significant changes, including:
- Increased Access to Justice: AI-powered tools can help reduce the cost of legal services, making them more accessible to underserved populations. For instance, technology-powered pro se assistance can empower individuals to represent themselves in court without expensive legal representation.
- Enhanced Productivity for Lawyers and Legal Operations: AI-driven solutions can automate time-consuming tasks, such as document review and legal research, allowing lawyers to focus on higher-value work and improving overall efficiency.
- Improved Decision-Making: By leveraging data analytics, legal professionals can make better-informed decisions based on historical case data, trends, and insights. This can lead to better case outcomes and more effective legal strategies.
Section 2: The Rise of Generative Pretrained Transformers and Other Zero-Shot Reasoners
Generative Pretrained Transformers (GPTs) and zero-shot reasoners have taken the AI world by storm, revolutionizing natural language processing and understanding. These advancements, while impressive, also bring about unique challenges, particularly for the legal industry which requires utmost accuracy and confidentiality.
a) The Unprecedented Growth of ChatGPT
ChatGPT, a popular chatbot developed by OpenAI, exemplifies the rapid adoption of GPT technology. ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after its launch.
This staggering growth rate makes it the fastest-growing consumer application in history.
b) The Technical Foundations of GPT
Despite producing human-like text, GPT technology operates differently from human cognition. At its core, GPT is a probabilistic program that utilizes a technique called masked language modeling. It leverages deep learning, specifically a large-scale transformer architecture, to predict the next word or phrase based on the surrounding context.
The transformer architecture consists of self-attention mechanisms, which allow the model to weigh the importance of each word in a given context. This process occurs in multiple layers, enabling GPT to learn complex relationships and generate coherent, contextually relevant text. However, GPT's predictions are fundamentally based on patterns and correlations found in the vast amounts of training data, rather than on a true understanding of the subject matter.
See https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.08774.pdf to learn more about GPT's technical foundations.
c) The Unreliability of GPT Outputs: A Legal Nightmare
GPT's reliance on pattern-matching and correlation can lead to "hallucinations" — outputs that appear plausible but are factually incorrect or nonsensical. In the legal industry, where accuracy is paramount, such inaccuracies can have disastrous consequences.
While still a real issue, GPT-4 significantly reduces hallucinations relative to previous models (which have themselves been improving with each iteration). GPT-4 scores 40% higher than our latest GPT-3.5 on our internal adversarial factuality evaluations:
If GPT hallucinates a clause that appears valid but contradicts existing law or misrepresents the intent of the parties, it could lead to lawsuits, financial losses, and reputational damage for the firm and its clients.
d) GPT Licensing and Intellectual Property Concerns
Another challenge for law firms adopting GPT technology is the licensing terms. It's not completely clear whether Microsoft and OpenAI retain some intellectual property interest in both the input and output of the program. While paid plans or API access offer more favorable terms to users compared to the free version, these terms still raise concerns for the legal industry, where confidentiality and exclusive ownership of work product are crucial.
Some firm employees have faced termination for using GPT on the job, as the licensing terms can put the firm's intellectual property and client confidentiality at risk. According to a February report by CyberHaven, 3.1% of workers have pasted confidential company data into ChatGPT - that number is likely higher and has likely increased in correlation with the increase in ChatGPT users.
Section 3: New Pittsburgh LegalTech Startup - Counsel Stack - Helps Firms Increase Reliability of GPT Outputs
In response to the challenges posed by GPT technology in the legal sector, a new Pittsburgh-based legal tech startup, Counsel Stack, has emerged to help law firms harness the power of GPTs while mitigating their risks.
a) Tackling GPT Hallucinations with Counsel Stack
Counsel Stack's primary innovation lies in its ability to address the hallucination problem by training specialized models that provide the necessary context to generate accurate and relevant information.
These models are trained using domain-specific public data, such as statutes, rules and regulations, and case law, to ensure that the generated outputs are more reliable and better suited to the legal industry's needs.
In the demo below, notice how Counsel Stack is able to cite the correct sections of the Internal Revenue Code.
b) Alleviating the Struggles of In-House Attorneys with Counsel Stack
In-house attorneys face a unique set of challenges that make their work environment demanding and complex. They are responsible for managing a diverse array of legal matters, including compliance, contracts, intellectual property, employment, and litigation, often with limited resources and tight budgets. As such, in-house counsel must be highly efficient and agile to effectively serve their organization.
c) Supplementing GPT with Counsel Stack: A Powerful Tool for In-House Attorneys
Counsel Stack can become a game-changing tool for in-house attorneys.
By using Counsel Stack for information retrieval, attorneys can access accurate and relevant legal information from public sources, such as statutes, rules and regulations, and case law.
Meanwhile, GPT can be employed to draft coherent and contextually appropriate documents based on the retrieved information from Counsel Stack.
This powerful combination can greatly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of in-house attorneys, enabling them to better manage their workload and deliver high-quality legal services.
d) Counsel Stack Addresses Several Key Pain Points:
By adopting Counsel Stack, in-house counsel can optimize their workflows, make better-informed decisions, and ultimately become more effective advocates for their organizations.
- Time Savings: In-house counsel are frequently overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks they need to accomplish.
- Enhanced Decision-Making: In-house attorneys must make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information.
- Consistency and Quality Control: In-house attorneys must ensure that their work adheres to a consistently high standard.
Counsel Stack provides a reliable information retrieval system that helps attorneys access the most relevant and accurate legal information from public sources.
Section 4: Showcasing Counsel Stack in Action
This section will provide an overview of demonstrations that showcase the power and accuracy of Counsel Stack when used in conjunction with GPT technology.
These demonstrations highlight the difference between standard GPT outputs and the improved results obtained when integrating Counsel Stack's specialized legal AI tools.
Demo 1: GPT Fabricating Legal Information
The first demonstration highlights how GPT can generate fabricated legal information when used on its own, or provide generally correct yet imprecise responses.
This demo emphasizes the potential risks of relying solely on GPT for legal research and drafting, as it may produce misleading, inaccurate, or imprecise outputs.
Demo 2: Counsel Stack's Accurate Information Retrieval and Citations
The second demonstration showcases Counsel Stack's ability to accurately retrieve legal information, including relevant citations.
This demo emphasizes how Counsel Stack's specialized AI models can provide reliable and accurate legal information, ensuring that in-house attorneys have access to the most up-to-date and pertinent resources.
Demo 3: Combining Counsel Stack and GPT to Draft a Legal Memo
The third demonstration illustrates the power of integrating Counsel Stack with GPT technology to draft a coherent and accurate legal memo.
This demo highlights the seamless combination of Counsel Stack's accurate information retrieval and GPT's natural language generation capabilities, resulting in a high-quality legal document that can be confidently used by in-house attorneys.
Section 5: Closing Remarks
As we've explored throughout this article, the advancements in legal technology, particularly in Pittsburgh, are reshaping the landscape of the legal industry. Generative Pretrained Transformers and other zero-shot reasoners, while impressive, have inherent limitations that can pose significant risks to legal professionals. Counsel Stack, a Pittsburgh-based legal tech startup, offers a promising solution to mitigate these risks and harness the power of AI to better serve the legal community.
By addressing the hallucination problem and intellectual property concerns associated with GPT technology, Counsel Stack provides a reliable and secure AI-powered platform tailored specifically for the legal sector. As showcased in the demonstrations, the integration of Counsel Stack with GPT technology can greatly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of in-house attorneys.
Pittsburgh's vibrant AI ecosystem, with its strong connections to academia and industry leaders, serves as a fertile ground for innovations like Counsel Stack. As legal tech continues to evolve, driven by the ingenuity of startups like Counsel Stack, we can expect to see even more transformative solutions that will revolutionize the way legal professionals work and ultimately increase access to justice for all.
Thank you for your time and attention, please visit the link below to learn more about Counsel Stack.
Note: This post should not be construed as tax or legal advice. This post is merely for information and demonstration purposes. Do your own research. When in doubt, always consult with an attorney or tax professional to answer legal questions.
