Artificial intelligence and blockchain are poised to disrupt the legal profession. How can lawyers and their clients rise to the challenge? Kalpana Tyagi reports
In Suits, one of the most popular drama TV series on US television to run some seven-plus seasons, the very charming Harvey Specter, a senior partner at tier one Manhattan-based law firm Pearson Hardman, hires college dropout Mike Ross as an associate lawyer. Impressed with his photographic memory and immense knowledge, Specter hires Ross from among a mass of ivy-league law graduates lined up to interview for the precious job. The brilliant college dropout-turned-unlicensed attorney and the charismatic Specter make a great team and turn the tables on countless occasions to get surprise victories for their employer, Pearson Hardman. Imagine a Suits-like show run in real life. This is the promise of an artificial intelligence (AI) enabled blockchain environment.
With the advent of 4G and 5G, “anything/anywhere/anytime” (triple A) will be a reality. What this means is that we will be able to access virtually everything in a fraction of a second with a simple mouse click or a voice command. The emergence of this high-speed connectivity offers an enabling platform for two important technologies – first, AI and second, blockchain technology. I collectively refer to this as the AI-enabled blockchain environment. As I discuss in detail in my book, neither AI nor blockchain are new from a technological perspective. Consider, for instance, that AI-automated voice response, smart sensors and automated/semi-automated machines have been around for some time now.
The primitive automated voice-responding machines date back to the early 1980s. Likewise, the most fundamental concept of decision making in the blockchain technology – in technical parlance, it is called the Merkle tree and Byzantine fault tolerance – dates back to the early 1980s. Technologically, these may not be new, but, from the commercialization perspective, both are disruptive. This is due to the fact that the two technologies – thanks to the emergence of 5G – offer tremendous potential for “successful commercialization”.
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An Indian-qualified competition lawyer with a specialization in business strategy, Kalpana Tyagi works as a research scholar on artificial intelligence and blockchain technology at CREDI, Center for Legal Informatics, Department of Law, Aarhus University, Denmark. Tyagi has worked across Switzerland, the US and the EU as a researcher and consultant on competition, patents and innovation in the digital economy. This feature is adapted from an excerpt of her forthcoming book dealing with innovation, ethics and relevance of law in the era of Industry 4.0 and big data.
