Generative AI: The Future is Here

What if I told you that there was a way to be at least 30% more productive in your job? What if I told you that if you were hesitant to learn about this new technology that everyone else in your field was taking advantage of it and becoming more productive than you quickly?

This is generative AI. It's not a fad. It's not going away. And the tools that enable it are getting much better every day.

In this 55-minute video, Jason Barnwell, Microsoft's General Manager for Digital Transformation of Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs, joins me to discuss:

1. How is generative AI being used today?

2. Should we scared or excited (or both)?

3. How might generative AI impact the legal profession?

4. How might generative AI impact the corporate & securities law field? (with a series of live demos!)

Here are a few of the points made during the video:

1. Doing a confidential treatment request for the 30th time in your life can become a joy rather than a hassle. Because you might be able to handle it in 20% of the time it would normally take you to do it.
    
2. In the back half of the video, Jason conducts some live demos that illustrate the power of generative AI.
    
3. You need to learn the art of becoming good at providing context when making "prompts" to an AI tool. It's an iterative process where you're essentially brainstorming with the tool. This is not like using a search engine where you just input a single search term or phrase.
    
4. You have your own lawyerly ethical obligations when using these tools (e.g., competence, communication, confidentiality).
    
5. You can't rely solely on generative AI to do your work; you need to refine the output you receive from an AI tool.
    
6. Besides this video, you might want to listen to the three-part series recently held on "Freakonomics Radio" – particularly the 3rd episode aired on September 6th entitled "A.I. Is Changing Everything. Does That Include You?"
    
7. You might want to subscribe to Ethan Mollick's "One Useful Thing"s free Substack newsletter – including reading this one entitled "Secret Cyborgs: The Present Disruption in Three Papers," as it highlights a paper that reveals how the legal profession is one that will be disproportionately disrupted.