Much has been written recently about artificial intelligence (AI) and law. But what is AI, and what is its relation to the practice and administration of law? The discussion aims to be nuanced but also understandable to those without a technical background. To that end, I first discuss AI generally. I then turn to AI and how it is being used by lawyers in the practice of law, people and companies who are governed by the law, and government officials who administer the law.

Is it possible to predict the outcomes of legal cases – such as Supreme Court decisions – using Artificial Intelligence (AI)? I recently had the opportunity to consider this point at a talk that I gave entitled "Machine Learning Within Law" at Stanford. The general idea behind such approaches is to use computer-based analysis of existing data (e.g. The approach to using data to inform legal predictions (as opposed to pure lawyerly analysis) has been largely championed by Prof. Katz – something that he has dubbed "Quantitative Legal Prediction" in recent work.