Lexis and Westlaw are both rolling out AI research and drafting tools in 2024. Lexis+ AI is the first to be released and is already available to all faculty and to our upper-class students. 1Ls will be getting access on February 9. Westlaw will be rolling out its AI platform in two stages. The first stage is adding AI assistance to Practical Law which will be released on January 24. Then West will be releasing an AI assistant to its main database, Westlaw Precision, sometime later this semester.
Lexis+ AI is a supplemental tool that can be used as an efficient starting point for research and drafting. Unlike public AI tools such as ChatGPT, Lexis+ AI is grounded in trusted, authoritative content and provides hallucination-free legal citations all from within Lexis' own database. At this time not all of Lexis' database is accessible to the AI tool. Therefore, it can be a good starting point for research, but will need to be supplemented with traditional research.
Lexis+AI can be accessed by going into Lexis and clicking on the nine-dots symbol in the top left corner and the selecting "Lexis+ AI"
Lexis+ AI can answer general and some complex legal questions, assist in drafting documents, and summarize information. All of it backed and contained within the Lexis database.
Westlaw's AI program is based on the technology developed by CoCounsel, an independent leader in legal research assisted by Artificial intelligence. Westlaw acquired CoCounsel last year and is integrating the technology into Westlaw's database. Westlaw will be releasing two different AI tools in the coming months. For more specific info, please see the link to Thomson Reuters' AI technologies below.
Practical Law is a database devoted to practitioner tools including forms, guidelines, checklists, and contract clauses. Using Westlaw's AI tool will enable users to get to these resources by asking question of the AI, which will then point the user towards relevant resources and guidance.
Westlaw Precision is the main research database of Westlaw. It will be available sometime in the Spring of 2024 and should boast many of the same features as Lexis+ AI.
Lexis is providing a host of materials for faculty members on their new AI tool. Here are some of the resources that are being offered:
Westlaw has limited information on their AI products. What we have can be found below.
Large Language Models (LLMs) have been taking the world by storm. Led by ChatGPT, these AI models produce human-like responses to questions asked of them. They are poised to re-shape the world and the legal field in particular. Some of those listed below can be tried out for free. Having trouble with some of the terms being used in the AI discussion? Check out law.com's Glossary of AI Terms:
Free Resources
Below are a few of the most popular generative AI chatbots.