不断增强的合规挑战迫使企业法务面对日益增长的工作量，他们正意识到：法律科技是帮助他们“轻松度日”的真正“救星”。不过在应用新科技工具的过程中，企业法务也面临许多挑战。
2023年的“疫情后世界”，企业及其法务团队所面对的经营及工作环境是否发生了变化？答案并不尽然。
法律科技公司LawVu近期发布的《2023企业法务科技报告》（2023 In-house Legal Technology Report）指出，今年，疫情对全球格局带来的“洗牌”效果继续，这意味着企业仍面临较高的风控、监管及政策压力，法务团队繁重的工作也将继续。
虽然几乎所有法务团队都在强调利用科技工具的重要性，但实际效果并不算理想。《报告》指出，企业法务的许多时间仍花在极费人工的行政性事务上，且“法务部门的低效已一定程度影响了公司经营结果”。因此，法务部门可能会在科技层面大踏步前进，寻求更为高效、统一的技术工具。
具体到中国，华宇元典CEO蔡建军观察到，“最近几年国内企业和政府对于法律科技的兴趣显著提升，利用法律科技工具解决工作问题的需求也越来越迫切”。
华宇元典是一家智能法律服务解决方案提供商，其以法律人工智能为底层技术的元典Yodex智慧法务管理平台特别针对企业合规场景，致力于为企业提供完整的合规图谱及合规管理工具。
具体到市场兴趣背后的原因，蔡建军总结了三点。“一是数据在法律业务中可以发挥的价值越来越大；二是企业法务部门提升效率的需求越来越迫切，日新月异的技术进步也让大家看到，工具已经能以小时为单位替代人类工作。”
第三则是中国政府和司法机关对于法律科技应用的推动，“尤其是最高人民法院，在法律人工智能方面做了很多新尝试，也激励更多法律执业者在技术领域做更多的探索”。
EXTERRO 亚太区总裁王冠也观察到国内企业法务团队、律师事务所对法律科技工具展现出的更大兴趣，以及他们愈发具体的需求。王冠认为，首先源自数据资产在整个社会中重要性的提升，“中国企业正不断产生海量数据，依靠传统的人工或电子表格方式越来越难以应对增量数据的飞速发展，企业需要借助法律科技工具实现降本增效”。
EXTERRO总部位于美国，为企业提供信息治理、风险和合规性软件产品，其在中国可为企业提供数据合规、电子取证、海外诉讼、隐私保护等一体化法律科技解决方案。
基于这样的产品特性，王冠也观察到国内激发市场兴趣的其他原因，例如2021年《数据安全法》《个人信息保护法》等新法落地后，数据合规几乎成了所有在中国经营的企业高度关注的话题，企业亟需借助软件系统展开有效的内部数据治理。
此外，伴随越来越多国内企业开拓海外市场，海外合规及诉讼应对成为新话题，在此过程中对相关法律科技工具的接触也让出海企业认识到，先进的技术能帮助企业事半功倍地应对海外监管挑战，同时更有效保护企业数据信息安全。
具体到客户类型，王冠指出，对法律科技工具展现出更高兴趣的企业主要来自强监管行业，例如医药、汽车、金融行业，此外还有与大数据关联性较高的企业，如互联网、toC端制造业企业。
蔡建军对此有着类似观察，“大型企业、上市公司会更积极一些”，他说，不过今年随着大语言模型应用的出现，或许会有更多中小型企业“入局”，探索利用技术解决日常性法律事务。
助力企业提高合规能力
伴随客户对法律科技工具的实践愈发丰富，市场对“好工具”的定义也在逐渐形成。一方面，优秀的法律科技公司具备行业领先的技术优势；另一方面，他们对于企业法务团队所面临的痛点也十分敏感，能够结合真实的业务场景，打造有效又好用的技术工具。
如上所述，正是由于中国企业面临愈发复杂的监管环境，合规成为过去几年最炙手可热的话题之一。合规是个极为庞杂的体系，特别需要且适合法律科技工具发挥长处，这也是华宇元典力图帮助企业法务客户应对的领域。
蔡建军解释道：“我们常说企业经营要两手抓，一手抓收入增长，一手抓风险管理。在增长层面已经存在大量数字化工具，例如CRM、ERP、财务系统等；但在风险管理层面，很多企业几乎没有可使用的信息化系统，或者只用一个简单、固化的审批流程适用于不同合规需求。”
华宇元典要做的，就是帮助企业在风险管理层面建立这样一个灵活多元的系统。蔡建军指出，达到这个目的需要“三步走”：“第一步是‘识别’，即帮助企业构建自身的庞大合规知识图谱，图谱上的实体要涵盖企业所需要遵循的每一个具体合规义务，并基于大数据的方法识别哪些义务容易被违反、哪些义务需要随着某个法规变化而调整，以此形成动态调整、实时更新、覆盖全局的知识体系。随后把合规图谱和业务流程、工作岗位以及每个员工的工作环节做链，让员工具象了解不同流程中合规义务的同时，了解违规可能引发的处罚及诉讼。”
第二步则是针对高风险义务，设立内部流程，例如确定某个事项由业务部自查即可？还是需要法务审批？甚至需要第三方审批？随后通过这些流程记录企业的整个合规过程。
最后，当这些行为都成为系统上的记录，即“数字化触点”，就可以在一定时间后再评估企业合规体系的有效性，最终形成一个由触点，到流程，再到反馈的全链条管理过程。
这个过程中，“因为要对数量庞大的义务做拆解、标注、管理，就要用到大量的自然语言处理（NLP） 技术。我们的人工智能中台元典睿核就汇聚了元典成立以来在法律认知智能方面所有的技术，包括文本解析、信息获取、自动推理等”，蔡建军说。
蔡建军进一步介绍道，实际上，合规不仅和法务合规部相关，业务人员也是企业合规的一道防线，为此华宇元典正在设计一系列自动化审查工具来提高效率，也帮助法务部创造更大价值。
他举了个例子：针对业务部门的很多业务文件，例如广告文本、权利声明，以前都需要法务部审核文本，未来借助智能工具，可以对不恰达表述做自动审查。到了年底，法务部则可以根据收集来的数据，总结常出问题的审查点，根据产品特性提供针对性修改意见，发挥更积极的作用。
助力数据合规及应对海外监管
作为全球较早的电子数据取证领域软件生产商，EXTERRO致力于将科技和法律做结合，寻求最前沿的解决方案。王冠告诉ALB，EXTERRO早期便提出了Legal GRC理念，即“将公司治理、风险管理、合规审查融为一体的生态系统”，如今这一概念也在被越来越多的法律科技公司所采纳。
在中国市场，王冠介绍，EXTERRO的产品主要针对两大应用场景——它们恰好对应了近年中国企业法务团队探讨最为热烈的两个话题。
其一是企业数据合规管理。王冠说，自中国数据领域新法落地后，EXTERRO已帮助大量企业搭建了内部数据合规体系，这一综合性平台能够半自动化地梳理企业内部的数据及隐私合规情况，并根据内嵌中国《个保法》、欧洲GDPR，美国CCPA等几十个国家和地区的法规，以向导式流程，针对企业经营场景提供解决方案。
他举了一个近期落地的案例。某大型医药企业希望升级其数据合规体系，以对其数据进行快速的线上管理及评估。EXTERRO于是通过SaaS模式，帮助企业把之前的线下流程全部转为线上，并由系统自动关联企业数据及国内外法律法规条款，完成半自动打分和风险评估，“大大减轻了法务合规人员的日常重复性工作”。在此基础上，根据企业的数据流转情况，系统还可以对这家企业需要出境的数据进行梳理，生成对应的日志和报告；EXTERRO还帮助企业进一步打通了多个数据库，实现了对数据访问、流转、保存情况的整体把控，“真正达到了企业整体数据信息合规化的要求”。
其二是出海企业海外监管及诉讼挑战。王冠告诉ALB，这主要应用到了eDiscovery电子数据开示系统，可以帮助企业高效实现数据取证及分析，且满足“程序正义”，即其数据取证过程能够得到海外监管部门认可。在此领域也有例证。不久前，EXTERRO为国内一家制造业领域头部企业提供了相关服务。这家企业准备为海外市场研发新产品，为应对可能出现的产品质量甚至诉讼问题，企业提前纳入eDiscovery工具，对研发及生产涉及的庞杂数据进行记录，未来一旦遭遇监管严查，可以快速使用软件工具进行符合海外司法流程的数据开示处理。
“这样做可谓是未雨绸缪。”王冠说，“客户通过这一系统，还可以在风险发生之前对数据进行评估，并进行防御性处理。”
谈到上述工具在技术上的领先性，王冠坦言，由于研发工作开展较早，EXTERRO的不少产品都具备较强的技术领先优势，“例如现在大家讨论火热的机器学习能力，EXTERRO很多年前就开始使用，并且已经完成了很多内部训练……可以说，针对数据生命周期中的绝大多数法律问题，EXTERRO都已经将算法转变为有效的数字化工具，能够以软件代替人工，解决实际问题”。
仍需迎接“拐点时刻”
在与中国企业、尤其企业法务团队合作的过程中，法律科技公司发现，从传统工作模式到实现数字化转型，法务团队仍有不少路要走，它们亟需迎来自己的数字化“拐点时刻”。
EXTERRO王冠指出，在数据合规层面，不少企业没有专门的内部系统工具，而“有些第三方机构还在用excel表格做数据合规评估，这些表格难以有效维护，无法满足企业的可持续发展要求”。
“归根结底，这些痛点的基础性问题在于没有对数据进行盘点，没有形成完整有效的企业内部数据地图。如果企业都无法掌握某条信息到底存储在哪里，谁在使用？又何谈数据整理、展示，并形成有效的合规性结论？”王冠说。
华宇元典的蔡建军对此十分认同。他特别指出，和其他部门相比，企业法务部的信息化建设往往更为滞后。他解释道：“企业利用信息技术工具的进程通常分为两步，一是信息化，主要对应内部各类业务流程系统，用来解决记录问题；二才是数字化，即基于业务大数据展开提炼分析，最终反哺业务。”
目前许多企业部门已经进入数字化阶段，但部分法务部门的业务流程尚不健全、基础业务数据记录还未齐备。“所以我们要帮助法务部在较短时间内完成‘两步走’，赶上企业整个的数字化步伐。”蔡建军建议，这种情况下要特别利用好外部数据，例如外部案例及处罚记录，同时增加内部的数字化触点。
“我们一直在和很多企业强调：法律科技工具并不是简单地把工作从线下搬到线上，它最大的意义在于将数字化触点植入到业务流程中去，在服务业务的过程中，形成大量数据和信息的沉淀，帮助法务部去完整呈现业务现状，通过分析提炼找到改进措施和更好的监管方法。”他说。
抓紧时间迎头赶上之外，蔡建军认为企业客户面临的另一个难题是“法律业务和新一代信息技术的结合”。他说：“以前企业通常选取的供应商是通用软件开发供应商，支持法务部把某个业务流程固化为程序和代码，但过程中可能要花几个月沟通法律概念，效率非常低。在元典，我们既有技术团队，也有法律团队，技术与业务在元典内部和产品中已经达到较好的融合，企业与我们合作时，就会觉得推进效率很高。”
蔡建军观察到，在部分跨国公司法务团队中已经出现了“法律运营岗”，主要负责提升部门效率、改善成本收支、落地科技应用等，“未来这个岗位可能成为一种新趋势”。
AI热潮的影响
2023年，法律科技市场注定绕不过ChatGPT带来的影响，法律科技公司坦言这其中既充满期待，也有不少挑战。
“大模型在过去半年里更新得太快了。”蔡建军感叹道，“我们认为，未来可能会出现两极发展：针对常规、低知识工作，少数几个通用大模型就可以应对；而针对法律、医疗、财经等高知识附加值工作，则需要一些垂直领域AI模型。元典希望做好后一领域垂直模型的研发和应用工作。”
王冠则在思考大模型能够为整个行业带来的助益。“虽然当前很多流程体系已经很成熟，但企业还需要大量的人力、物力来操作管控系统，生成所需要的结论，而此类操作往往具有重复性。如果能够有效使用类ChatGPT技术，通过工具对常见场景进行学习、认知，帮助客户将之前重复的操作和判断进行缩减，就能大大减轻法务及合规人员的日常重复工作。”他说。
除了在技术上持续探索，法律科技公司也意识到自己在技术快速迭代过程中所扮演的桥梁角色。蔡建军坦言，在近期和客户交流过程中，“会发现大家对于大模型技术存在两种比较极端的认识。实际上，大模型在哪些场景中可以有效发挥作用？判断标准是什么？这些都需要法律科技公司承担好宣传职责，帮助客户把好的产品应用在正确的场景里”。
王冠对此也颇有感触。他认为，“法律科技公司作为将法律、技术、人员进行跨行业串联的中间节点，是不可或缺的。一方面，法律科技公司及其产品能帮助法务、合规人士更精准、高效地应对新的大数据信息，同时又能够让业务、数据技术人员更简单有效地了解法律合规的要求，协助双方对企业内部数据信息进行法律合规层面的落地”。
那么，2023年的这股AI热潮又是否能转变为法律科技公司真正的收益？
蔡建军坦言：“直接反映到业务收入上还需要很多的努力，同时要解决的问题也很多，但大家充满了期待。除了大模型的技术缺陷，中国企业还面临合规问题，例如网信办近期发布的《生成式人工智能服务管理办法（征求意见稿）》就对合规提出了更高要求。因此首要任务还是得先解决好这些问题。”
“随着监管环境的变化，合规为企业法务部提供了更大的价值创造空间，使其逐渐从企业中后台走向前台。此外，未来以大模型为代表的人工智能技术的强势发展以及与法律的深度融合，必将推动商业模式与应用场景的日趋成熟，而法律从业者的工作方式也将随之产生质的改变。”他补充道。
TECHNOLOGY TO THE RESCUE
As in-house counsel struggle with increased workloads thanks to growing compliance burdens, they realise how much legaltech can make their lives easier. However, challenges still remain when it comes to adopting these new-age tools.
As the pandemic starts to recede, one of the most visible casualties appears to be the workloads of in-house legal departments. The 2023 In-house Legal Technology Report, recently released by legal technology firm LawVu, finds that with continued negative impact of COVID-19, companies worldwide face growing pressure when it comes to regulatory risks, significantly adding to the workloads of in-house legal teams.
And while almost all in-house teams are aware of technology solutions that can lighten their loads, the actual usage of these tools has been patchy. In-house teams are still spending significant time on manual administrative tasks, and “legal inefficiencies are impacting business outcomes,” the report found. In this light, legal teams need to take a big step toward more efficient and consolidated working methods.
Regarding China, Cai Jianjun, CEO of Thunisoft Yuandian, observes the “growing interest of domestic companies and governments in legal technology solutions in recent years and an increasingly urgent need to use legal technology tools to solve problems at work".
Thunisoft Yuandian, an intelligent legal service solution provider, is committed to offering corporate clients a complete compliance management tool with its legal affairs management platform Yodex, which uses legal AI as the underlying technology.
Cai gives three reasons for this market enthusiasm. "First, data is becoming more valuable in the legal business. Secondly, it is increasingly imperative for in-house legal teams to improve efficiency, and ever-changing technological advances have shown that tools can replace human work on an hourly basis."
Thirdly, the Chinese government and judicial organs are promoting the application of legal technology, "especially the Supreme People's Court, which has made many new attempts in legal AI and inspired more legal practitioners to pursue better technological solutions."
Wang Guan, APAC senior director at the U.S.-headquartered Exterro, also notices the increased interest and more specific needs of domestic in-house teams and law firms regarding legal technology tools. First and foremost, this is attributed to the increased importance of data assets in society as a whole. "Chinese companies are generating massive amounts of data, and it is increasingly difficult to handle rapid and incremental data growth by relying on traditional manual or spreadsheet methods. Legal technology tools are necessary to reduce costs and increase efficiency.”
Exterro provides a suite of governance, risk and compliance software products for enterprises. Thanks to its localised products, Exterro can support Chinese companies with integrated legal technology solutions covering data compliance, e-discovery, and overseas litigation.
Wang also finds other factors driving usage. For example, since The Data Security Law and The Personal Information Protection Law came into force in 2021, data compliance has become a topic of great concern for almost all enterprises operating in China, and software systems are urgently needed for effective internal data governance.
Meanwhile, more and more Chinese enterprises are expanding their business overseas, and global compliance and litigation response have become new topics. By applying relevant legal technology tools, these enterprises have realised that good tools can help them cope with overseas regulatory challenges and protect corporate data security with less effort.
As for client types, Wang points out that companies showing higher interest in legal technology tools mainly hail from strongly regulated industries such as pharmaceutical, automotive, and financial and industries with higher relevance to big data, such as the Internet and toC manufacturing.
Cai shares a similar finding, "Large and listed enterprises are more proactive," but with the rise of large language models (LLM) this year, more small and mid-size enterprises may enter the fray and explore technological solutions to routine legal affairs.
HELPING IMPROVE COMPLIANCE
As clients are more comfortable with legal technology tools, the market has developed its definition of "good tools" and “good legal technology companies”. On the one hand, top legal technology companies should have industry-leading advantages; on the other hand, they are also sensitive to the pain points faced by in-house teams and create practical technology tools effective in real business scenarios.
As mentioned above, compliance has been the hottest topic in the past few years because Chinese companies face increasingly complex regulations. Compliance is extremely complicated, and legal technology tools are necessary and useful in this respect. This is what Thunisoft Yuandian wants to help in-house teams with.
Cai explains: "We often say businesses should pursue revenue growth on the one hand and manage risks on the other. There is a large number of digital tools at the growth level, such as CRM, ERP, and financial systems, but many companies have no risk management system or use a simple approval process to accommodate different compliance needs."
Thunisoft Yuandian wants to help corporate clients build a flexible and diversified system at the risk management level. Cai delineates a "three-step process" to achieve this goal. "The first step is to help enterprises create their compliance knowledge graph. Each point on the graph corresponds to a specific compliance obligation, and the obligations that are easy to violate and easily adjusted to regulatory changes are indicated. Then the obligations on the graph are linked to specific tasks and external cases so that employees can visually understand potential litigation and penalties for non-compliance."
The second step is to set up internal processes for high-risk obligations, such as determining whether a matter requires self-examination by the business department, legal, or third-party approval. These processes are then used to document the entire compliance process.
When all the behaviours are recorded on the system as "digital touchpoints", the in-house team can evaluate the effectiveness of the compliance system after a certain period. Therefore, a full chain management process will be in place, from touchpoints to processes and feedback.
In this process, "a large number of natural language processing (NLP) technologies are required to break down, label, and manage massive obligations. Our AI platform, Yuandian Ruihe, brings together all our technological achievements in legal cognitive intelligence since its inception, including text parsing, retrieval, and reasoning," says Cai.
He adds that compliance relies on not only in-house teams but also business personnel who are also a line of defence in corporate compliance. Thunisoft Yuandian is designing a series of automatic review tools that help in-house teams improve efficiency and create greater value.
For example, he explains that the advertising copy of the marketing department used to be reviewed by in-house teams. Still, in the future, they can be automatically checked by AI tools to avoid inappropriate expressions. At the end of the year, the in-house team will play a more active role by collecting and analysing relevant data, recognising areas that often go wrong, and providing targeted suggestions based on product characteristics.
RISK ECOSYSTEM
As one of the first global e-discovery software providers, Exterro has always been committed to cutting-edge solutions combining technology and law. Wang tells ALB that Exterro early on proposed the concept of Legal GRC, meaning "an ecosystem that integrates corporate governance, risk management and compliance review". The concept is embraced by more and more legal technology companies today.
According to Wang, Exterro's products in the Chinese market target two major scenarios—exactly the top two hottest topics among domestic in-house teams in recent years.
The first is corporate data compliance. Since China implemented its new data laws, Exterro has helped many companies build their internal data compliance system. The comprehensive platform can semi-automatically sort out the data and privacy compliance of businesses and include a wizard that guides businesses through embedded regulations from dozens of countries and regions, including China's Personal Information Protection Law, Europe's GDPR, and the U.S. CCPA, thus providing scenario-based solutions.
Wang cites a recent case. A large pharmaceutical company recently wanted to upgrade its data compliance system for rapid online data management and review. Exterro helped the company put all processes online through the SaaS model so that the system can automatically import corporate data and applicable laws and regulations to complete semi-automatic grading and risk assessment, and the upgrade has greatly relieved legal compliance personnel from routine, repetitive tasks.
The system can also sort out the company’s overseas data and generate logs and reports based on internal data flow. Exterro also helped the company connect multiple databases to supervise data access, flow, and storage, “making corporate data and information genuinely compliant,” says Wang.
Another scenario is overseas regulatory and litigation challenges that companies going abroad may encounter. Wang tells ALB that Exterro's eDiscovery is used in the scenario. It can help enterprises with efficient data forensics and analysis to meet "procedural justice” principles; that is, overseas regulatory authorities can recognise their data forensics process.
There are also examples in this respect. Not long ago, Exterro provided services to a leading manufacturer in China that is developing new products for overseas markets. To deal with possible product quality and litigation issues, it has incorporated eDiscovery to record massive R&D and production data so that it can move fast to conduct data discovery in line with overseas judicial processes when regulatory challenges arise.
"This is a precautionary measure. The system allows clients to assess data and take precautions before risks occur," adds Wang.
On the technological edge of the above tools, Wang says that many products of Exterro, an early starter, boast a vast technological lead. "For example, machine learning which triggered heated discussions, has been adopted by Exterro many years ago and lots of internal training have been completed... Exterro has also transformed algorithms into effective digital tools that can replace manual work with software to solve most legal problems throughout the data lifecycle."
LONG WAY TO DIGITAL
In working with Chinese companies, especially their legal teams, legal technology companies observe that in-house teams still have a long way to go digital from their traditional work models.
Wang from Exterro points out that many companies do not have dedicated internal systems or tools for data compliance, and "some third-party agencies are still using Excel forms for compliance assessments, which are difficult to maintain and fail to satisfy the sustainable development of enterprises."
"At the root of these pain points is that the data is not examined, and a complete internal data map is not prepared. If an enterprise can't even know where a particular piece of information is stored, how can it sort and display the data and form valid compliance conclusions?" says Wang.
Cai from Thunisoft Yuandian agrees. He notes that legal departments generally need to catch up to other departments in the digitalisation drive. He explains that "the process is generally divided into two stages. The first stage is informatisation of the internal approval system for data records, and next comes digitisation, which is about refining and analysing the big data recorded to facilitate the business development."
Many corporate departments are already at digitalisation, yet legal departments may still need complete data records. "We work to help legal departments get past the two stages in a short time and catch up with the digitisation drive of the enterprises," Cai suggests making the most of external data, such as external cases and penalty records while increasing internal digital touchpoints.
"We have been telling many companies that legal technology tools are not simply moving work from offline to online, and the greatest thing they do is to store digital touchpoints in the system to collect massive information and present the business status quo for the legal department. After analysing and refining these data, they can find improvement measures and better supervision methods," says Cai.
Beyond catching up quickly, Cai believes corporate clients face another challenge: "integrating legal business with next-generation information technology." He said, "In the past, companies were looking mainly for technology vendors to help the legal department turn an idea into codes, but the process was super inefficient as it could take months to communicate legal concepts. At Yuandian, we have both technology teams and legal teams and when we integrate them perfectly, companies would see fast progress when working with us."
Cai observes that some multinational companies have included "legal operations managers" in their legal teams, whose primary responsibilities are improving departmental efficiency, optimising costs, income, and expenses, and applying technologies. "This job may become a new trend."
IMPACT OF AI BOOM
Since late last year, generative AI has been all the rage, particularly in the form of tools such as ChatGPT, and legal technology companies confess that it presents both opportunities and challenges.
"LLM applications have been sprouting fast in the last six months," Cai says. "Some foreign papers state that the future may be polarised. A few generic LLMs can satisfy general jobs, while vertical AI models are needed for legal, medical, financial, and other high-value-added jobs. Yuandian hopes to focus on the development and application of vertical models."
Wang is keen to see how LLMs can benefit the whole industry. "Many existing process systems are mature, yet companies still need a lot of human and material resources to operate and control these systems and generate the required conclusions. Such operations are often repetitive. If ChatGPT-like technologies can be used to learn and recognise common scenarios and help clients reduce such repetitive operations and judgments, we can minimise the daily routines of legal and compliance personnel," he notes.
While exploring opportunities in technology, legal technology companies are also aware of their role as a bridge in the rapid iteration of technology. Cai admits that during his recent exchanges with clients, "I find there are two extreme opinions on LLMs. In which scenarios can LLMs be made the best use? What are the judging criteria? Legal technology companies need to play their role as a promoter and help clients use good products in the right scenario.”
Wang also has some thoughts on this. He believes that "legal technology companies play a critical role as a node to connect law, technology and business across industries. On the one hand, legal technology companies and their products can help legal and compliance personnel respond to new big data information more accurately and efficiently. On the other, they enable business and data technicians to understand legal compliance requirements in an easier and more efficient manner. That way, the two can ensure legal compliance of internal data information."
So, will the AI boom in 2023 translate into real gains for legal technology companies?
Cai says that "there may not necessarily be a rise in business revenue this year, yet we all are excited about it. There are many problems to solve too. In addition to the technical flaws of LLMs, Chinese companies also need to solve compliance challenges. For example, the Cyberspace Administration of China recently released the Draft Measures on Managing Generative AI Services for public comments, which sets out strict compliance requirements. When these issues are solved, subsequent revenues can be guaranteed."
"As the regulatory environment changes, compliance offers a bigger stage for legal teams to play their role. As long as legal technology companies can join hands with in-house teams to better explain that technologies can bring more value, there is no worry about investment from the clients," he adds.
