With all the hype around AI (artificial intelligence), it’s easy to think that AI can solve all your business problems. Want to do something faster and more efficiently? AI may seem like the obvious answer; it’s certainly being sold that way. But marketing isn’t always right. That’s why you need to be cautious when you consider deploying AI. If it doesn’t deliver the actual value you are seeking, it can be an expensive mistake. (This is why Mark Myslin, a data scientist from Ravel Law, and I wrote an article called “AI in the Right Places”).

I’ve spent the last decade working with engineers, data scientists and computational linguists teaching computers to structure unstructured legal data. Our efforts range from teaching a computer legal vocabulary, to more difficult parts of speech, grammar and even syntax. I have seen well-conceived algorithms replicate certain tasks otherwise performed by humans, including lawyers, at scale, quickly and accurately. But I have also learned that AI should only be deployed in appropriate use cases where there is ample evidence it will succeed.