How should AI be used?

I like Artificial Intelligence (AI). I use it most days, and it has already proved itself a remarkably useful tool. But I also have concerns.

I used to be a lawyer, and it seems obvious to me that AI will make a good junior lawyer. It can review documents, analyse contracts, summarise case law, and draft a first version of a legal argument at astonishing speed. What's far less obvious is how anyone becomes a senior lawyer in a world where AI does most of the junior work.

It's often the grunt work that builds judgement. Lawyers learn, through experience, when something doesn't add up, when a client's stated problem masks a deeper one, or when they need specialist advice. If AI keeps eating away at the early stages of professional development, we may discover that while it can replace junior lawyers, it can’t produce senior lawyers.