The integration of artificial intelligence into legal documentation platforms presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant risks that must be carefully managed, according to one industry expert who is grappling with these challenges firsthand.
“We are concerned about and looking at different ways to add AI into the business, without getting into possible legal advice or other things, because AI can just kind of run wild child,” says Aletha Nelson, Vice President of DossDocs. “It learns and it grows.”
Nelson points to a fundamental tension between AI’s capabilities and the regulated nature of legal documentation. “We’re looking at ways to implement AI, not open source, but have it benefit the customers, without giving them legal advice and without misadvising them,” she explains.
This challenge is particularly acute in real estate documentation, where incorrect or inappropriate guidance could have serious legal and financial consequences. Nelson says her team is actively working on developing safeguards: “How can we maximize the tools that are available to us without any sort of potential fallout?”
According to Nelson, the solution involves carefully controlled AI implementation rather than wholesale adoption. “We’re trying to do some fail-safe buildings there,” she says. “I’m having some really interesting conversations with people in that regard right now.”
The approach involves looking beyond just the technology itself to consider the broader implications of AI-assisted legal documentation. “We’re looking at different ways to add AI into the business,” Nelson explains, while emphasizing the need to maintain strict boundaries around certain functions.
Nelson argues that managing customer expectations around AI capabilities is crucial. Her firm has focused on creating educational content across multiple platforms to help users understand both the benefits and limitations of automated legal documentation.
“We really try and make it simple for consumers to understand,” she says. “People that have been in the industry a long time use a lot of acronyms. They throw words out there and expect you to know what that means.”
While acknowledging the challenges, Nelson remains optimistic about AI’s potential in legal documentation, provided it’s properly managed. “If you are not expanding and making those shifts to what’s happening in the market, you’re not going to thrive,” she says. “So you grow, or you’re dying.”
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