PwC introduces AI chatbot for 4,000 lawyers to speed up work

PricewaterhouseCoopers has introduced a chatbot service for its lawyers, joining the ranks of professional services firms using artificial intelligence to boost productivity.

The project will be delivered through a 12-month partnership with AI startup Harvey, PwC said in a statement Wednesday.

Around 4,000 PwC lawyers in over 100 countries will gain access to the technology.

The chatbot is meant to help speed up work from due diligence or regulatory compliance to broader legal advisory and legal consulting services.

The firm said it’s also looking to extend the use of the service for its tax practice.

Companies across industries are testing the promise of generative AI to supercharge efficiency.

ChatGPT, an AI chatbot from Microsoft-backed OpenAI, became a global sensation last year, thanks to its ability to deliver seemingly sophisticated yet plain-language answers to almost any kind of question.

“Harvey’s AI solution marks a huge shift in the way that tax and legal services will be delivered and consumed across the industry,” said Carol Stubbings, global tax and legal leader at PwC UK.

Harvey is built on OpenAI and ChatGPT technology and is backed by the OpenAI Startup Fund.

The technology, based on large language models, is particularly suited for those who have to create and analyze large amounts of text.

Other professional services firms have been dipping their toes into using AI to expedite tasks.

Allen & Overy recently became the first in the Magic Circle, as the London-based law firms working on top City deals are known, to announce a chatbot to help lawyers draft contracts and client memos.

PwC survey

In other news, Middle East CEOs are “optimistic” about the region’s economic growth prospects, with around two-thirds of the region’s business leaders expecting an improvement this year, revealed the Middle East findings of the 26th edition of PwC’s global CEO survey.

The survey, which polled 4,400 CEOs in 64 countries, found that Middle East CEOs are confident in regional growth and are transforming their businesses by embracing new technologies, investing, driving cost efficiencies, moving on deal activity and taking active steps to mitigate the risk of climate change.

Read: Middle East CEOs confident about economic growth in 2023, finds PwC survey

Read: ChatGPT creator OpenAI debuts new GPT-4 AI system