From stenotypes to machine learning--AI in contract management

Growing up in India, I've witnessed, read and worked on all sorts of different contracts. Still fresh in my mind are the verbal agreements people in my town would make with standard "net 30" payment terms while buying their groceries from the little shops near our house. While practicing law, I would review contracts on paper, often dictating the changes to my stenographer. Thankfully, the world has moved on and we increasingly use computers to draft contracts, emails, and even negotiations, thereby minimizing dependency on stenographers. Historically, once a contract is signed after weeks and sometimes months of hard work, it's left unattended for years on end in a musty cupboard, until some poor person has to spend half a day locating and dusting it down for use in a dispute.