'Write 100,000 Pages, Humans Won't Read It Anyway': Legal Tech CEO on AI as Primary Reader
Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.
At a glance
Interview
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Context piece
- Lee Jin, CEO of legal tech company Elaws, is pioneering a new era of legal publishing where AI, not humans, are the primary readers.
- Elaws is developing "Scala," a legal AI platform that uses large language models to provide legal analysis and document drafting, moving beyond traditional case search databases.
- The company is creating AI-readable legal texts, with no page limits, prioritizing frequently accessed legal provisions to cater to AI's analytical needs.
Lee Jin, CEO of the legal tech firm Elaws, believes the future of legal publishing lies not with human readers, but with artificial intelligence. Elaws, founded in 2019, has evolved from a case search database to a legal AI platform used by approximately 70% of South Korean lawyers. It serves over 1,700 institutions, including the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Kim & Chang, and Samsung Electronics, handling a significant portion of legal research in the country.
The book has not disappeared. The reader has just changed.
The company's pivotal moment came with the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. Lee recognized the potential of combining large language models (LLMs) with legal case data. This integration allows the platform to move beyond simply listing cases in response to search queries. Instead, it can now "derive conclusions based on factual relationships," effectively performing legal reasoning through an infinite loop of syllogisms, a core function of AI.
The reader is not human. Who reads a 1,500-page textbook from beginning to end these days? AI reads it all and provides the answers.
Elaws is now venturing into creating its own AI-readable legal texts under the "Elaws Scala" initiative. Unlike traditional books, these texts have no page limits and are designed for AI consumption. Lee explains that the traditional method of writing legal commentaries, which involves extensive analysis of every statute and can take years with hundreds of legal experts, is inefficient for AI. Elaws prioritizes the most frequently accessed provisions, aiming to publish the top 20% most-read sections first.
The era has arrived where artificial intelligence becomes the reader of specialized legal books.
Lee emphasizes that while AI can generate legal analysis, human authority remains crucial. "Law is a field of persuasion, so authority is important," he stated. The prestige associated with a professor from a top law school carries weight. In the AI era, humans will be the arbiters of authority and bear responsibility. Elaws is committed to accuracy, ensuring that AI provides correct conclusions with verifiable sources, allowing users to cross-reference and maintain human oversight. The future of legal authority in the age of AI, Lee admits, is still an open question.
Law is a field of persuasion, so authority is important.
DistantNews Editorial
Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.
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