102 | 🤯🏴‍☠️ AI-driven Legal Apprenticeships

In today’s Brainyacts we:

1. highlight a top referrer and share their survey

2. see AI coming to live on your phones

3. show you how OpenAI will replace colleges

4. how alternative AI legal education could look like

5. learn that corporate legal teams are aheads of firms in using AI

6. catch a glimpse of public outcry for AI taking jobs

7. give you a reformatted “News You Can Use” section

8. grin at how smart you all are via a meme

👋 to new subscribers!

To read previous posts, click here.

☎️ 🏃‍♂️Why you will be unable to run from AI.

AI is no longer confined to remote data centers - it's migrating to your personal device, setting up residence right there on your smartphone!

In a recent Bloomberg Live event, Qualcomm's CEO, Cristiano Amon, shed light on the concept of "edge AI". Essentially, it's a Large Language Model (LLM) operating directly on your mobile device!

Upon viewing this, two thoughts immediately sprang to mind:

Firstly, the sheer magnitude of this innovation is astounding! The potential applications are beyond my wildest imagination.

Secondly, it raises some serious concerns. Is this truly a wise move? Consider the potential security risks, privacy issues, and the potential for misuse. For anyone in a corporate IT leadership role, the thought of this impending reality is enough to cause sleepless nights.

And yes, it's worth noting that this technology will be integrated into certain smartphones by the end of this year!

For the whole video, click here.

There are a number of great interviews, such as Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI & Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, that is worth listening to as you learn how they are viewing AI in the future of Airbnb - their vision applies to other industries, and yes, definitely legal.

🎓🤖 OpenAI Academy: The beginning of the end for colleges - including law schools.

This is not an empty statement. It is packed with meaning and purpose Sam Altman and many others see the massive structural and misaligned incentives of the US secondary education market. He is very focused on this along with some other notable doers.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Sal Khan of Khan Academy have developed Khanmigo, an AI tutor powered by OpenAI's GPT-4. According to a study by Intelligent.com, 85% of students who have experienced both human and AI tutoring found the latter to be more effective. This has led to speculation that with further upgrades (like the upcoming GPT-5), AI can enhance student responses even more. 

OpenAI Academy, set to launch in late 2023, plans to offer a broad range of courses, using GPT-5 to provide tailored learning experiences. The Academy also aims to foster a community of learners and educators, allowing users to create and distribute their own courses.

As Khan Academy tests GPT-4's potential in education, insights will shape the development of OpenAI Academy. Traditional universities might face stiff competition from such accessible, cost-effective models, necessitating a reconsideration of their current teaching frameworks. The move towards AI-enhanced education signals a potential revolution in pedagogical methods.

RELATED STORY: Georgia Tech is powering its teaching assistant with ChatGPT now.

🇺🇸👩‍⚖️ US law schools, like other facets of the higher education system, are not immune to the potential impact of AI in education. Here are some factors that put them at risk:

1. Cost: Legal education in the US is expensive, which often leads to significant student debt. With the promise of AI-powered education platforms like OpenAI Academy providing free or significantly lower-cost alternatives, prospective law students might opt for these more affordable routes, especially if they can deliver the same or even higher quality of education.

2. Access: AI-powered education platforms have the potential to democratize education by making it accessible to everyone, regardless of geographic location. Traditional law schools, often bound by physical locations, may find it harder to compete with the reach of digital platforms.

3. Innovation in legal tech: Legal technology has seen significant growth in the last decade, with AI increasingly used in tasks like document review, legal research, and even predictive analysis for legal outcomes. Law schools that fail to adapt their curriculum to incorporate these changes might risk becoming obsolete.

4. Personalized Education: AI has the potential to provide highly personalized education, adapting to the individual learning pace and style of each student. This could potentially outshine the 'one-size-fits-all' teaching approach seen in many law schools.

5. Hands-on Training: Virtual legal clinics and internships powered by AI could provide practical, hands-on training that rivals traditional law school clinical programs. These AI-powered experiences could be available at scale, providing opportunities to more students.

6. New Curriculum: With the introduction of AI and other tech, the legal landscape is changing rapidly. If law schools can't keep their curricula updated, students may opt for agile, AI-powered education platforms that are better at keeping pace with these changes.

7. The potential for AI-driven instruction in specialized legal areas: Some areas of law, like patent law or tax law, require highly specialized knowledge. AI models trained in these areas could potentially offer high-quality instruction at a fraction of the cost of traditional legal education.

☢️ ⛔️Wait! But the ABA will not allow this!

Have you ever heard of apprenticeships? In a handful of states, a person can forgo law school altogether or limit the number of cases they take if they are being actively apprentice by another lawyer. Yes, the state bar associations regulate this, so it is not like there is not gatekeeper.

My hypothesis and research suggest that as bar associations and the ABA begin to recognize the on-going systemic issues of high-cost legal education, growing legal deserts (where no lawyer serves a given population), on-going and pervasive access to justice issues, and a public that is already weary of the legal system - alternative options that are already in play might become more supported.

What might that look like?

The combination of AI-assisted education with traditional legal apprenticeships has the potential to create a rich, flexible, and engaging learning environment. Here are three scenarios that might illustrate what such a combination could look like:

Scenario One - Personalized Curriculum Development: An apprentice could use an AI learning platform like the proposed OpenAI Academy to build a personalized curriculum that complements their apprenticeship. For example, if the apprentice is working in a civil rights law firm, the AI could recommend courses and materials relevant to civil rights law. The AI can also adjust the curriculum based on the apprentice's progress and areas of interest or weakness. Over time, this could provide the apprentice with a well-rounded education that is directly applicable to their work.

Scenario Two - On-Demand Tutoring and Mentoring: Even in an apprenticeship, there may be times when a mentor is unavailable to provide immediate guidance. In these cases, AI platforms like Khanmigo could fill the gap. For instance, if an apprentice is drafting a legal document and has a question about legal terminology or case law, they could ask the AI tutor. The AI can provide instant responses, explain complex concepts, and even direct the apprentice to relevant resources. This "on-demand" assistance could significantly enhance the learning experience.

Scenario Three - AI-assisted Peer Networks and Collaborative Learning: One unconventional but pragmatic approach could be leveraging AI to build and manage a network of apprentices, creating a virtual "classroom" of sorts where apprentices from various states or legal fields could interact, collaborate, and learn from each other.

The AI could facilitate this by identifying shared interests or complementary areas of expertise among apprentices, suggesting potential collaborations, organizing virtual meet-ups or study groups, and even mediating or guiding group discussions. This could help to overcome one of the potential downsides of the apprenticeship route - the lack of peer interaction compared to a traditional law school environment.

Additionally, the AI could identify common challenges or questions among apprentices and use this information to curate relevant learning materials or prompt group discussions. By enabling apprentices to learn from each other's experiences and perspectives, this approach could enhance their learning and help to build a supportive community of future legal professionals.

As a further enhancement, the AI platform could facilitate regular virtual "courtrooms" where apprentices can participate in mock trials, argue hypothetical cases, and receive feedback from their peers, mentors, or even from the AI itself. This could provide invaluable practice in arguing cases and develop their courtroom skills.

Of course, all these scenarios would need to be developed with careful attention to privacy and ethical considerations, particularly when dealing with real legal cases or sensitive information. But with proper safeguards in place, this kind of AI-assisted peer network could become a powerful tool for enhancing the apprenticeship learning experience.

Corporate Legal Leads Law Firms in AI

Thomson Reuters has just dropped a significant global survey, featuring legal and tax professionals from both independent firms and corporate sectors. Dig into it, it's illuminating. A few pivotal takeaways:

• Corporate legal teams are outpacing law firms in AI adoption and enthusiasm, eagerly urging their law firms to catch up.

• A whirlwind of uncertainty is stirring around how the integration of generative AI will disrupt traditional business and economic models, particularly in law firms, where the ingrained hourly billing paradigm poses a challenge.
  
  It seems in-house counsel are equally confused. The quote below reflects the limited scope of thinking about how legal services can be valued. This person is equated speed with less billable hours OR lower quality work as a result of AI. It does not appear that they are considering how AI might improve speed, with quality, with coverage, with access, with ease of use, etc.. All of which have extreme value beyond the value of an hour.

• This quote illustrates the misunderstanding of the use of these tools and perhaps reflects a reaction to recent news of lawyers relying on ChatGPT for legal research.

👋💥 Glimpse of AI Job-taking Backlash

The recent launch of Marvel's 'Secret Invasion' series on Disney+ has sparked a controversy, as it was revealed that the opening credits of the show were generated by artificial intelligence (AI), thereby eliminating the need for human graphic designers and animators.

The move has drawn significant backlash from audiences, particularly in the context of the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, which includes demands for protections against AI replacing human labor. Some viewers have expressed solidarity with the striking writers, while others are choosing to stop watching the series altogether. This public outcry underscores the broader concerns over AI-led job displacement in various industries.

Except that this did not replace any human’s job.

"AI is just one tool among the array of tool sets our artists used. No artists' jobs were replaced by incorporating these new tools; instead, they complemented and assisted our creative teams," reads a statement from Method to The Hollywood Reporter, saying it was still all in-house.

For any business that is both public about the use of AI and is actively managing its employees in a manner that suggests misalignment (strikes, lay-offs, pay cuts, etc.), it will be vital to be transparent and forthcoming! Accenture recently pulled this off by announcing massive job cuts in March and then this month stating it will create 80k+ AI jobs. Or maybe the public cares more about Hollywood than the Big4 . . .

In the Memetime: 

DISCLAIMER: None of this is legal advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not legal advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any legal decisions. Please /be careful and do your own research.8