Artificial intelligence has long been present in our everyday activities, from a simple Google search to keeping your car centered in its lane on the highway. The public unveiling of ChatGPT in late 2022, however, brought the power of AI closer to home, making it accessible to anyone with a web browser. And in the legal industry, we are seeing the use of AI and machine learning ramp up in litigation, especially when it comes to expert witness preparation and testimony.
The support of expert witnesses has always required leading-edge analytical tools and data science techniques, and AI and machine learning are increasingly important tools in experts’ arsenals. The concept of technology being able to “think” and make decisions, accomplishing tasks more quickly and with better results than humans, conjures thoughts of a “Jetsons-like” world run by robots. However, unlike the old Jetsons cartoons of the 1960s, where flying cars were the de facto mode of transport and robot attendants addressed every need, the “futuristic” ideas around the impact of AI were not that far off from a rapidly approaching reality. In fact, as older, rules-based AI has evolved into machine learning (ML) where computers are programmed to accurately predict outcomes by learning from patterns found in massive data sets, the legal industry has found that AI can do far more than many imagined.
