NEW DELHI: Generative AI (GenAI) has tremendous potential for bringing more automation to the global legal technology sector that is likely to reach $50 billion (in value) by 2027, albeit with some riders.

According to Gartner, there has been key growth in technology adoption for spend management, e-billing, contract lifecycle management, legal matter management and legal document management. Incorporating GenAI into these applications will only accelerate purchasing and adoption, said the report. Chris Audet, Chief of Research for legal, risk and compliance leaders' practice, said that the widespread availability of consumer tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard, will quickly increase the number of established legal technology use cases.

According to the report, lawyers also need to understand the limitations and risks of using GenAI as well as its potential. It is essential to check the output of GenAI. It is not a suitable technology at this stage to complete tasks without review, the report advised."

As various business functions pursue automation, legal leaders may find themselves facing some tough questions from senior leadership if they haven't evaluated its potential in the legal department," Audet noted. According to the report, new technologies can fundamentally change the way legal organisations perform business and GenAI has the potential to help.