How to Apply the Right Legal AI Technology to the Right Task

Legal departments are under growing pressure to adopt legal AI technology and prove immediate value, according to Michael Altit of Checkbox. The future of legal operations, however, may depend less on using more AI and more on applying the right technology to the right tasks. 

Altit argues that most legal work falls into two distinct categories: complex, exploratory matters and routine, high-volume workflows. Generative AI benefits complex tasks like legal research, substantive analysis and drafting from first principles because those tasks require flexibility, reasoning, and adaptability. In these scenarios, AI can act as a partner, helping legal professionals navigate nuanced problems that don’t follow predetermined paths.

By contrast, routine legal work demands consistency rather than creativity. Intake, triage, compliance checks, and standardized agreements require precise and repeatable outputs. Even small variations can introduce significant legal risk. Furthermore, GenAI models cannot guarantee identical outputs every time, making them unsuitable for workflows that require auditability and consistency.

This isn’t a rejection of generative AI, however. It is a question of proper alignment between tools and tasks. The solution is structured workflows that handle repetitive processes reliably, with GenAI supporting matters that require reasoning and judgment.

Atlit advocates for centralized systems that can capture every request, whether from email, Slack, Teams, Salesforce, or web forms, then route them to the right place. Deterministic AI automation, where the AI will always have the same output, can then ensure that routine matters trigger self-service workflows and standardized clause libraries, while GenAI can be deployed for complex requests that require thinking. 

Legal teams will gain the greatest advantage not by applying GenAI to every use case but by applying the right technology to the right tasks. Leading organizations will be the ones where every type of work has the right solution behind it.