Pfeifer and Wellen Give an Inside Look at LexisNexis' AI Sprint (TGIR Ep. 230)
Dec 4, 2023
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Jeff Pfeifer and Serena Wellen from LexisNexis discuss the rapid development of AI tools for the legal industry. They share insights on the evolution of their Lexis+ AI tool, the launch of Lexis Snapshot and Lexis Create, and the expansion of generative AI tools to an international reach. They also explore the adoption of chat GPT technology in law firms, user feedback, future improvements, AI product development, and essential skills for product managers. The guests emphasize the importance of user feedback in driving enhancements and the transformative impact of AI products on the legal industry.
LexisNexis has developed AI tools for the legal industry, including Lexis+ AI, Lexis Snapshot, and Lexis Create, to assist lawyers in their workflows and improve efficiency.
Localization is a key challenge in expanding AI tools internationally, with adjustments needed to reflect local languages, legal nuances, and cultural contexts.
Deep dives
Lexus Nexus discussion: Generative AI and its impact on the legal profession
Jeff Pfeiffer and Serena Wellen from Lexus Nexus join the podcast to talk about the launch and advancements of their AI products. They highlight the rapid adoption of generative AI in the legal profession and how it aligns with the daily work of lawyers. Jeff and Serena discuss the adjustments made based on user feedback during the customer preview program, emphasizing the importance of task organization and grounding data to improve answer quality. They also mention the benefits of multi-turn interactions for clarifying questions and the expansion of Lexus Plus AI internationally. The impact of generative AI on law firms and client relationships is explored, envisioning a future with personalized AI agents assisting lawyers in their workflows and providing proactive advice and insights. The podcast concludes with a discussion about the ongoing development and improvement of AI products, emphasizing the collaborative approach between Lexus Nexus and its clients.
Lexus Nexus products: Lexus Snapshot and Lexus Create
Lexus Nexus has recently launched two AI products, namely Lexus Snapshot and Lexus Create. Lexus Snapshot provides summarization of federal litigation complaints, enabling users to quickly scan dockets and identify important updates. The product will expand to cover more content types. On the other hand, Lexus Create integrates generative AI capabilities into Microsoft Word, allowing users to draft documents more efficiently. Jeff Pfeiffer emphasizes the importance of embedding AI insights into the workflow experience and meeting clients' needs where they spend most of their time. He envisions future improvements in summarization and the ability to generate insights in applications beyond Word. The aim is to add value and measure the return on investment for firms using these tools in their practice.
Localization and impact on legal systems
Serena Wellen discusses the challenges of localizing Lexus Plus AI to accommodate various language systems and legal systems worldwide. Adjustments are made to the grounding data and model fine-tuning to reflect local languages and legal nuances. Lexus Nexus leverages localized content and the expertise of its global legal and content teams to ensure that the generated content aligns with the needs of local lawyers. The potential for AI models to translate effectively across languages is also explored. The goal is to provide AI tools that can securely analyze and generate documents using the user's own data, while also considering the cultural and jurisdiction specific context.
Future of AI in the legal field
Jeff Pfeiffer and Serena Wellen discuss the potential impact of AI products on the work of law firms and the relationships between law firms and their clients. They envision AI agents becoming highly personalized, acting as trusted colleagues to lawyers, providing proactive advice, and delivering insights tailored to individual preferences. The conversation highlights the importance of maintaining the quality of AI-generated answers and building trust with clients. The ongoing development of AI technology, driven by client demand and experimentation, is expected to lead to significant improvements in speed, productivity, and value for law firms and their clients.
This week we catch up with Jeff Pfeifer and Serena Wellen from LexisNexis to discuss the rapid development of AI tools for the legal industry over the past year. Pfeifer and Wellen give us an insider’s view of what it took to bring their Lexis+ AI tool to the market and the balance between speed to market and getting solid customer guidance on what they need in a legal-focused Generative AI tool. Between the initial version released to a select group of customers and the current version, the product grew from an open-ended chat interface into more of a guided resource that helps users on creating and following up on prompts. As with most AI tools created in the past year, there is still more potential as more and more customers use it and give critical feedback along the way.
In addition to Lexis+ AI, LexisNexis has now launched two additional AI products - Lexis Snapshot and Lexis Create. Lexis Snapshot summarizes legal complaints to help firms monitor litigation. Lexis Create brings AI capabilities directly into Microsoft Word to assist with drafting and research while lawyers are working on documents. The goal is to embed insights where lawyers are actually doing their work rather than separate AI tools.
While the focus of the initial Generative AI tools from LexisNexis were focused on the US market, Serena Wellen and her team are busy expanding that to more of an international reach. This requires adapting the models, content, and interface to different languages and legal systems. This is complex undertaking, but Wellen discusses how LexisNexis has content and editors around the world to help customize the tools. Surprisingly, desired use cases are fairly consistent globally - both simple legal tasks as well as more advanced legal research and drafting.
Greg Lambert brings up a recent LinkedIn discussion that he had with Microsoft’s Jason Barnwell, where Barnwell told him that today’s version of Generative AI tools are “the worst these things will ever be.” In response, Pfeifer says that LexisNexis is focused on continuously improving answer quality to build trust and prove the value of AI to skeptical lawyers. LexisNexis is leveraging relationships with companies like Microsoft to reinforce the stability and progress being made.
Wellen and Pfeifer look into the future and predicted that AI assistants will become highly personalized to individual lawyers. AI agents will also proliferate across platforms to help automate tasks and workflows. Law firms will likely accelerate their adoption of AI tools based on rising expectations and demands from corporate legal departments to work more efficiently.
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