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Gartner urges ‘healthy scepticism’ in AI adoption
As generative AI and machine learning technologies become more widely adopted within the legal assurance industry, Gartner experts have revealed that some leaders are setting their expectations too high, too soon.
Grace Robbie
As the legal technology landscape continues to evolve, fuelled by advancements in generative AI, machine learning, and large language models, it is increasingly capturing the attention of assurance leaders.
A recent report from Gartner highlights that professionals across the legal, risk, audit and compliance sectors are particularly intrigued by AI’s potential to “automate high-volume, low-value tasks” to enhance productivity and streamline operations.
As a result, the firm has predicted that these departments will double their technology spending by 2027, aiming to capitalise on the efficiencies enabled by AI-powered tools.
Weston Wicks, senior director analyst in the Gartner legal and compliance practice, revealed that “some assurance leaders are prematurely expecting AI technology to greatly enhance productivity”.
However, Wicks emphasised the importance of maintaining realistic expectations throughout adopting and implementing such technologies, cautioning leaders against approaching them with undue optimism.
“While these technologies show promise, in the near-term, Gartner recommends assurance leaders identify where they can pilot and experiment with them while maintaining healthy scepticism as they are implemented,” Wicks said.
In line with this, the firm’s 2024 Hype Cycle for Legal, Risk, Compliance, and Audit Technologies report, which helps industry professionals understand the potential of emerging technologies within their field, has positioned AI in the assurance practice at the “peak of inflated expectations”.
Wicks said: “Certain notable movements on the 2024 Hype Cycle are driven by assurance leaders convinced that incorporating new technology and generative AI (GenAI) tools is necessary to manage the growing burden of new rules and regulations imposed on executives and enterprises globally.”
“Select emerging innovations, such as compliance monitoring solutions, have been directly impacted by GenAI and have seen substantial movement along the Hype Cycle as a result.”
According to Gartner, while generative AI is poised to significantly influence related innovations within the analytics domains, key technologies – such as data and analytics governance, audit analytics, legal analytics, and advanced contract analytics – are nearing maturity, with their expected development trajectory now projected to reach a plateau within the next two to five years.
As a result, Wicks advises assurance leaders to closely monitor innovations approaching the “plateau of productivity”, as these are likely to yield more immediate and tangible benefits.
“If they haven’t already, assurance leaders should be paying closest attention to more mature innovations near the plateau of productivity, such as corporate legal operations technology, contract life cycle management and privacy management tools that can likely deliver more immediate productivity gains,” Wicks said.
While generative AI is expected to be transformative in the assurance domain, Gartner experts caution that early adoption presents significant risks that must be carefully considered and actively monitored.
“Early lessons learned by assurance leaders include understanding the importance of information management and data governance and the importance of intentionally including humans in the loop to mitigate bias and other risks,” Wicks said.
Looking ahead, Gartner predicts that innovations in legal assurance technology will continue to evolve, with substantial benefits expected over the next five years as the industry refines its use of AI.
