Alex Stern is the picture of what many legal technologists imagine the next generation to be. He went from being a computer-fascinated preschooler to a 13-year-old software developer who created a tool to help facilitate charitable donations. After graduating from University of California, Berkeley School of Law and working as a plaintiff-side class action attorney for a few years, Stern immediately saw a need for more technology in law.

Stern attempted to design his software, Attorney IO, with the “little guy” in mind: Attorneys competing against the massive resources of a Big Law firm. “We want to have a digital AI research team. If you have a motion to dismiss or a motion for summary judgment from some massive firm, we want you to be able to upload that to the AI and it'll come up with counterpunches. It'll help you figure out how to respond,” he said.

“This is a real labor of love. If a Gibson Dunn representing an ExxonMobil can put tons of attorneys on a case, we don't want some oil spill victim to be trampled because they can't afford those attorneys,” Stern added.

Using Attorney IO's AI-based analysis can also help attorneys diagnose a matter, or suggest places where memos could be improved by citing more data-supported arguments.

“We want to make this as easy as possible. You can be a 70-year-old solo, and all you have to do is drag and drop. If you can master email, you can master this,” he said.

Stern and his company are looking to make waves in an increasingly crowded market of artificial intelligence-based legal research tools. Tools like CaseText's CARA and ROSS Intelligence's recently released EVA both purport to provide similarly data-driven legal research, but Stern is confident that Attorney IO is capable contender in the space.

“I say compete on the merits,” he said. Because each tool is designed a little differently, Stern said that comparing them across practice areas or usage might lend to different preferences for attorney users. “Because all these algorithms are proprietary, it's hard to say,” he said, adding that attorneys would be wise to make use of the free trial periods offered by each of the tools.

Attorney IO is still finding its niche in the market, but Stern plans to start by providing the tool for free use to people working with “socially conscious organizations,” groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) or Employment Law Center, in hopes of both contributing to their work and gaining some market traction.

As with any AI-based tool, trying to distinguish hype and substantive result can be difficult for organizations. Because AI at this point really can only navigate pretty specific functions, training AI on specific data can yield a whole different set of results.

“We only focus on litigation cases. If you have some breaking ground interpretation of the Civil Rights Act or you're trying to grapple with some new circuit split, that's what we want to focus on. We're not currently diluting any training with extraneous matter,” he said.