Our senior associate at az Tech, Antonia Nudman, was consulted by Diario Financiero regarding the use of artificial intelligence for data cross-referencing and analysis in the justice system.
The judicial error that ended up freeing the hitman accused of the murder of the ‘King of Meiggs’ has once again raised questions about the quality of oversight and information management within the Chilean justice system.
This fact “highlights the need to establish additional controls,” says Albagli Zaliasnik (az) senior associate Antonia Nudman, noting that the Chilean judicial system has not historically been “exposed to the level of complexity and volume of critical cases it currently faces.”
In this context, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for cross-checking and verifying data could “add value,” says Nudman, not as a replacement for human judgment, but as an “automatic alert tool” for inconsistencies, contradictory orders, or critical background information that must be reviewed before execution.
In Chile, the opportunities offered by this technology for document review, among other tasks, are already being valued by law firms and legal departments. In fact, in the case of the latter, a recent Deloitte study indicates that 61% consider AI to be a technology that could be useful in the future.
The CEO of LemonTech, a company that develops legal technology, Lautaro Rodríguez, argues that the Chilean industry has been at the forefront of adopting this type of innovation. “In Chile, we find a particular desire to innovate, an understanding of the wind of change that technology brings and how it can contribute to improving our productivity,” he says of the opportunities for use in the sector.
Advances and challenges
Today, legal professionals are already making increasingly effective use of artificial intelligence, according to Pablo Contreras, professor at Universidad Central and partner at Data Compliance. Those who are learning to use AI are saving time reviewing documents, summarizing, generating reports, comparing databases, and identifying patterns and probabilistic correlations from that data, which adds value to their work, he explains. In his view, industry professionals should increasingly focus on ‘how to ask good questions’—known as prompts—and always take the time to review the answers provided by AI models to avoid errors that could be the result of ‘hallucinations’ by the system.
“We have been looking at artificial intelligence tools for almost a year now, and we have also set up internal workshops within the firm so that lawyers can familiarize themselves with this new tool,” says HD Group CEO Denisse Green about how they have addressed this issue within their operations.
In addition, Green points out that it is necessary to understand that, in the case of law firms, ‘a single generative artificial intelligence cannot be used for all areas of practice, because obviously each process is different’, which is why she highlights the need to analyze and investigate how to develop different solutions according to the purposes of each area.
“We need to start becoming more familiar with these technologies,” adds Constanza Llona, general manager of Barros Silva Varela & Vigil. In this regard, she notes that she does not believe this technology will replace lawyers, but rather that it will ultimately “enhance legal work.” She mentions that it will be a tool that new generations of lawyers will also begin to demand when they start working at a law firm, as it is also linked to their career development.
Regarding the implementation challenges associated with AI, Rodríguez outlines that the main thing is to overcome prejudice and “understand that technology is positioning itself as a strategic ally for each of our roles.” After that, he says, its use becomes more interesting.
Contreras agrees with this view, asserting that “this is a point of no return” regarding the use of AI. “Just as we stopped using typewriters in general, this is the same thing; we are not going to stop using AI,” he says.
For his part, Green predicts that “firms will increasingly focus on artificial intelligence,” which will allow lawyers to develop other skills. He also mentions that “there are many myths” surrounding the impact this technology will have on the legal world in the future, but he is confident that these “will dissipate” as progress is made in this area.