The survey of more than 4,000 consumers in the U.S. and U.K. revealed that more and more people are open to legal services being powered by AI. Nearly half of those polled by research agency Perspectus Global for the legal technology startup said they associated AI with making such services more affordable for consumers.
But few are ready to let technology take over completely.
Only 4% of respondents said they would trust AI on its own. By comparison, almost 70% would prefer a traditional lawyer. Barely more than a quarter, at 27%, would prefer using a lawyer who uses AI as a support tool. This is because respondents don't believe that an AI-powered paralegal could perform to the same level as a fully-qualified human lawyer.
"Legal AI should make life easier for lawyers and cheaper for clients," RobinAI CEO Richard Robinson said. "But trust must come first."
At the same time, the study found that just 10% of those polled fully trust law firms to deliver services amid wider dissatisfaction with the current legal system. The same proportion of respondents said that they believe legal services are truly accessible to everyone. Less than a quarter said they believe that good quality services are available to the average person.
"When 90% of people say legal services aren't truly accessible, that's more than a bug, it's a systemic problem," said Robinson, a former corporate lawyer at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP and Clifford Chance LLP.
But at the same time, few consumers said they would trust AI to take over complex legal work: Only 17% of respondents said that they would be comfortable outsourcing a divorce case or a redundancy dispute to AI. An even smaller proportion, at 11%, would be comfortable with AI being used to take on criminal defense work, according to the survey.
Nearly half, however, said they would be open to AI being used to review a rental agreement or write a will.
The findings overall reveal that people see potential benefits in using AI-powered tools, though they want their use to be led by human lawyers and properly regulated; 82% of respondents said they want lawyers to take a safety or compliance course before using AI tools.
While many consumers appear ready to embrace some level of AI for simpler legal tasks, uptake in the legal community has been more uneven. Many law firms have embraced various AI tools designed for the legal sector — some have even developed their own tools.
But the bar so far has been more "patchy," according to research Spinnaker Research & Consulting conducted for the Bar Standards Board. And there are significant barriers to increasing adoption, the research published Tuesday found.
For example, some barristers don't see how technology can streamline the work processes that they have developed and refined through experience. Many are time-pressured with their existing workloads, and don't have the capacity to think strategically about technology and innovation.
There is also limited external pressure for most chambers to innovate. They also have limited funding and limited IT expertise compared with law firms, according to the research.
--Editing by Nicole Bleier.
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