Law firms are slow to adopt AI-based technology tools, ABA survey finds

Artificial intelligence-based tools continue to be used by only a very small percentage of law firms, according to the ABA's 2020 Legal Technology Survey Report this month. Just 7% of respondents to the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center's survey reported that their firms use AI tech tools, a decrease of one percentage point from a year ago. Meanwhile, 23% of respondents said their firms were not interested in purchasing AI-based tools and nearly 34% said they did not know enough about AI to answer the question regarding their firms current or planned usage of such tools. Alexander Paykin, a Legal Technology Resource Center board member, says he thinks the legal industry has been slow to adopt AI-based tools because the available products have yet to demonstrate they can consistently produce the results vendors promise. He points to his experience with the AI-based legal research offerings he has tried out in recent years to back up his point.