127 | 😂 🤨 CheatGPT?

In today’s Brainyacts:

1. Spend partner $$ wisely on AI

2. Lifting the hood on CoCounsel (Casetext)

3. 2 Microsoft AI key employee laptop backups leaked on GitHub and other AI-related news

4. Can AI help solve rape cases and other news you can use

👋 to new subscribers!

To read previous editions, click here.

Lead Memo

💸 🤑 The True Cost of AI Projects: We Have Responsible AI, Now We Need Responsible Partner Capital Spend

It's an exciting time. Teams everywhere are diving into the world of GenAI, making their own versions and stamping their names on them. Hats off to them for being bold!

But here's the catch: many are so eager to get started that they're missing the big picture. They experience the initial costs of building an AI model, but they forget about what comes next. Building the model is just step one. What about updating it, training people to use it, or keeping it running smoothly?

I’ve had far too many conversations in recent months with law firm teams building AI models about where they are getting the budget for this. Most of them tell me there is no budget and everything is an “ask” to either an AI committee or some other group of firm leaders. This is risky and irresponsible!

See, it's like getting a puppy. The purchase price might be the initial cost but think about the food, vet bills, training, and time you spend with it. If you're not ready for all that, you might end up with a big, unmanageable dog that you can't take care of.

This isn't new. Law firms faced a similar problem when they tried to become tech-savvy a decade ago. Many wanted to build cool client-facing tech tools, but they forgot that they're not tech companies. They didn't have the know-how or resources to keep things going. So, many of those projects got left behind, not living up to their potential.

So, what's my message here? Jumping into AI is great, but you need a full game plan. Think about the entire journey, not just the first step. Only then can you stack the likelihood of long-term success and responsible use of equity partner money!

4 Things to Help You

I put together a short list of 4 things I try to emphasize and provide insight into when talking to AI-focused teams in legal. This is not comprehensive but should be helpful in ensuring your AI initiatives are comprehensive, sustainable, and strategically aligned

1. Budgeting for Tomorrow, Not Just Today

   • Initial Costs: Software licenses, equipment, and external consultants.

   • Ongoing Costs: Regular updates, maintenance, training, user support, and potential scale-up costs.

   • Future Costs: Expansion, new features, and adaptation of emerging features and capabilities.

2. Training & Development

   • Use-Case Training: Equip your users to harness AI in day-to-day tasks. This isn't about making them tech experts but enabling them to use the tool effectively for their specific context. Think of how many contexts/use cases there are in a law firm!

   • Distinguish from Traditional Training: Unlike regular professional development, AI training focuses on hands-on pragmatic application, ensuring users understand AI's role and benefits in their workflows.

3. AI Tool Integration & Ownership

   • Housing the AI Tool: Decide where the AI tool will 'live' within the organization.

   • CIO Team or Innovation Teams?

     • Pros of CIO Team: Technical expertise, understands the firm's IT infrastructure, can ensure integration with other systems.

     • Pros of Innovation Teams: More agility, open to novel approaches, might be more familiar with AI's potential in legal tasks.

     • Critical Question: If starting with the Innovation Team, will the CIO team inherit the project? Plan the transition smoothly.

4. Feedback Loop Creation

   • Do real user research: Don’t just use surveys or anecdotal methods - shadow users, problem-solve with them on their use cases, and invest in them - this will unlock new insight for you and them that no other method would unlock. Often these are the critical insights you will need.

   • Iterative Improvements: Use feedback to make necessary adjustments, ensuring the tool remains relevant and beneficial.

Spotlight

👀 Lift the Hood on CoCounsel by CaseText

This is a helpful post by the CoCounsel team explaining what went into building it. Worth the read.

AI Model Notables

• Google Reportedly Nearing Release of GPT-4 Competitor, Gemini

• Microsoft added a new Continue on Phone feature to Bing Chat on Edge browser on desktop, allowing you to resume your AI chats on your phone

• Microsoft AI team leaks 38Tb of private company data (including 2 full backups of key employee laptops) on GitHub

• Darrow raises $35 million Series B to detect legal violations with AI

• Legal AI startup Paxton AI announces $6 million seed funding

News You Can Use:

➭ Can A.I. solve rape cases? A Cleveland professor is working on it.

➭ Big banks clamor to shed thousands of jobs by adopting AI

➭ Everyone Google’s their symptoms (and gets immediately freaked out). Now you can do the same with ChatGPT

➭ The 7 principles of UK’s Responsible AI development are released

➭ Move over Generative AI; Interactive AI is next

➭ Israel’s legal sector is the latest industry to feel the AI squeeze

➭ Bernie Sanders Calls for AI-Driven Workweek Reduction for Workers

➭ UK PM considers banning Chinese officials from half of AI summit

Who is the author, Josh Kubicki?

Some of you know me. Others do not. Here is a short intro. I am a lawyer, entrepreneur, and teacher. I have transformed legal practices and built multi-million dollar businesses. Not a theorist, I am an applied researcher and former Chief Strategy Officer, recognized by Fast Company and Bloomberg Law for my unique work. Through this newsletter, I offer you pragmatic insights into leveraging AI to inform and improve your daily life in legal services.