PwC experiments with chatbots to speed up its lawyers

PwC has announced a chatbot experiment that aims to speed up the work of its 4,000 lawyers, in the latest sign of professional services firms rushing to adopt artificial intelligence.

A 12-month contract with start-up Harvey will give the lawyers access to legal AI, which PwC said would help them work more quickly on tasks such as analysing contracts and carrying out due diligence.

The Big Four firm said it also planned to find ways to use the service in its tax practice.

The alliance is the latest example of a professional services firm experimenting with “generative” AI since the launch of ChatGPT. The AI chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI has fuelled interest in the potential of the technology to help businesses increase efficiency.

Harvey’s software was built using OpenAI’s latest technology, GPT-4, which the company says appears to have far greater legal reasoning ability than its predecessor.

Carol Stubbings, PwC’s global tax and legal services leader, said the technology “marks a huge shift in the way that tax and legal services will be delivered and consumed across the industry”.

The firm said the technology would speed up decision-making by producing answers to questions, which would then be reviewed and added to by staff.

Because it was capable of parsing vast quantities of text and writing convincing answers to questions, it could also be used to summarise key clauses from batches of contracts, PwC said, and eventually to produce initial due diligence reports based on instructions from lawyers.

The Big Four firm said it planned to create customised products for tax and legal clients using Harvey’s platform.

The AI would not be used to provide legal advice and would not replace lawyers, PwC said.

The professional service industry’s exploration of how to use AI is the latest development in the continuing shift towards the automation of routine tasks.

Bain & Co and Boston Consulting Group are among the others experimenting with OpenAI.

Law firm Allen & Overy already uses Harvey but has insisted the technology would not replace any staff, reduce billable hours or save money for the firm or its clients. It said the technology could help reduce costs in future.

Robin AI, a competitor to Harvey, said that it provided services to two Big Four consultancies and law firm Clifford Chance, which use the software to review and edit contracts. Their services are built on technology developed by US start-up Anthropic.

“The goal is to automate the high volume work that nobody should be doing,” said Richard Robinson, Robin’s chief executive.

Despite the widespread interest, some advisers are worried about the implications for data and confidentiality.

Consultancy Accenture has prohibited staff from using ChatGPT and other technology like it “without permission”. The company, which employs more than 700,000 people, told staff in an email seen by the Financial Times that it had updated its policies on confidentiality and the use of technology to prevent exposure of sensitive data.

It also said it was setting up a generative AI “centre of excellence” to advise on “responsible uses”. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

City law firm Mishcon de Reya has also told staff not to upload client information to chatbot tools. The firm said its data science team and some of its lawyers were discussing how the technology could be used by the firm.

Additional reporting by Kate Beioley