Chatbots and the Business of Law

• Pages: 30-31
• Date: 01 April 2023
• Author: Daniel S. Wittenberg
• Subject Matter: Derecho Civil

he chatbots are coming, the chatbots are coming!

The advent of chatbots has revolutionized the

business landscape and the legal profession is no

exception. Chatbots are computer programs that use

articial intelligence (AI) and natural language pro-

cessing (NLP) to simulate conversations with human users.

They can automate tasks, streamline workows, and provide

personalized services to clients.

Chatbots not only interpret user intent but also process

their requests and give prompt relevant answers. ChatGPT, an

AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI, was made avail-

able on November 30, 2022, and it has the potential to trans-

form the legal profession. In this column, we’ll explore the

impact of ChatGPT and chatbots on the legal profession.

By the Numbe rs

The market value for chatbots varies depending on the spe-

cic industry and use case, as well as the size and maturity of

the market. The overall global chatbot market, however, was

estimated at $5.1 billion in 2022, $6.3 billion in 2023, and

is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of

23.3 percent from 2023 to 2030, according to Grand View

Research. Revenue forecast for 2030 is $27.2 billion. By

2024, consumer retail spend by way of chatbots worldwide

will reach $142 billion—up from just $2.8 billion in 2019,

according to Juniper Research.

The overall AI market is signicantly larger than the chat-

bot market. The global AI software market was $9.51 billion

in 2018 and is forecast to grow to $118.6 billion in 2025,

according to Statista.

The rising acceptance of customer service activities among

businesses for the reduction in operating costs is anticipated

to propel market growth. The growth can also be attributed to

other factors, including the increasing demand for automation

and the need to provide personalized customer experiences.

In addition, advancements in AI and NLP technologies have

made chatbots more sophisticated and effective in understand-

ing and responding to user inquiries. Various innovations car-

ried out in AI and machine learning technologies are expected

to strengthen the features of chatbot, which, in turn, would

drive market demand.

The chatbot market is also driven by the rising domina-

tion of messenger applications and increasing demand for

customer analytics. The messaging app usage statistics from a

year ago released by Hootsuite show that WhatsApp has 2 bil-

lion monthly active users, followed by WeChat with 1.3 billion

monthly active users, followed by Facebook Messenger with

998 million monthly active users. Chatbots with the ability to

reasonably mimic humans allow brands to engage consumers

more efciently on these growing messaging platforms.

Since launching in November 2022, ChatGPT has changed

our understanding about what is possible with AI. The conver-

sational chatbot can perform a range of human-like tasks with

ease, such as writing and debugging code, composing lyrics,

Chatbots and the Business of Law

By Daniel S. Witt enberg, Litigati on News Asso ciate Editor

© Getty Image s

SPRING 20 23 • VOL. 48 NO. 3

30 | ABA LITIGATION SECTIO N

BUSINESS OF LAW