Casetext made a huge announcement yesterday–the release of “the first AI legal assistant” based on OpenAI’s natural language processing model. Click here to view the press release. The tool, named CoCounsel, is based on the same technology as the headline-grabbing ChatGPT. But unlike ChatGPT, CoCounsel is much better suited to legal work because it was trained on Casetext’s large database of legal information and Parallel Search technology instead of the general worldwide web. Furthermore, Casetext worked with experienced attorneys to cross-check and improve CoCounsel to have a level of reliability that ChatGTP cannot dream about yet. (CoCounsel will make up citations to case law, at least right now.) If you have spent any time with ChatGTP, you have seen how it can provide Wikipedia-like information (it can describe the basic differences between a legal treatise and a legal encyclopedia), summarize Supreme Court opinions, and even write poetry (though it has a penchant for simplistic rhyme schemes). But CoCounsel is next-level.
CoCounsel will speed up the time attorneys and paralegals spend on routine tasks, such as writing letters and searching for blackletter law. It can summarize the key points from court opinions, articles, and briefs and suggest deposition questions. CoCounsel and other AI tools still require competent, expert supervision by attorneys and do not replace the ability to make difficult judgement calls, determine strategy, and exercise creativity.
Casetext will be providing free trial access to CoCounsel soon. Click here to sign up for the waitlist for free trial access to CoCounsel. For more information about CoCounsel, visit https://casetext.com/cocounsel/. Above the Law has an early look at CoCounsel, entitled Legal AI Knows What It Doesn’t Know Which Makes It Most Intelligent Artificial Intelligence Of All, which is worth a read. Casetext’s goal for CoCounsel is ultimately to improve access to justice. Check it out.