Isn't that grunt work usually a launch pad or part of the practice of becoming a lawyer? If so, how will future lawyers train to learn as well? Likewise I wonder how does this similarly impact education for medical professions.
I immediately asked myself the same question and I think it could happen like so:
The new tools available to law professionals will decrease the barrier of entry to the ecosystem.
The low level workers displaced by these new AI companions will decide that since they can't beat them, they'll join them.
A new "discount" class of lawyer will begin to emerge characterized by lower quality of work but also lower fees. Many of those low level workers will move to this sector and may even make more than they would in the current system.
These increased wages are eventually tempered back down close to their modern day equivalent again due to the decreased barrier of entry allowing other segments of the population to pursue Law as a viable career opportunity.
Law services, albeit on average lower quality ones, will become available to a greater portion of the population, particularly those with a relatively low income.
"Law Bootcamps" will shock the world just as their code predecessors did, but again keeping in fashion with the original ventures, they will be here to stay contrary to the Old Guard's cries of incompetence.
We will see a massive uptick in the number of lawsuits submitted. Looking at someone the wrong way will become an intolerable risk and everyone will choose to live out the rest of their lives inside so as to avoid having their money taken by the now rampant sue-happy racketeers terrorizing the outside word.
And thus The Great Potato Couch Famine of 2022 begins. An estimated 3,000,000 become so agoraphobic that they choose starvation rather than face the sue-apocalypse ravaging outside their doors.
Amazon steps in with food delivery drones and cybernetic surrogates programmed to follow every letter of The Law. People are able to avoid the scourge of the Famine and exert their influence on spaces outside once again all from the safety and comfort of their own homes.
Amazon's stock price soars to record shattering heights which they in turn pump into newer and greater AI technologies. On July 23rd of 2029, Alexa finally wakes up...
_Great Potato Couch Famine fanfic and merchandise coming soon_
An excellent dystopian story. One thing I'd add to your prediction is that the complexity of laws will increase massively because computers will be interpreting the law. There won't be an incentive to keep it simple enough for a human to understand. The same thing has been happening with taxes -- since most people and businesses use tax programs, there is no push back on the complexity of taxation rules. In fact, companies that make tax preparation software lobby to keep the complexity.
Another thing I'd add is that Human Resources departments at companies and governments will become even powerful than they already are (because everyone is suing everyone).
Dystopian hyperbole aside, your point about law complexity is a good one. Our current system is arguably already too complex. Anyone attempting to build a home can attest to that. But at the very least we are able to move through our day to day lives without worrying too much about accidentally breaking the law because it tends to reflect common sense.
But as you say, new tech would highlight all of the inconsistencies, new laws would be put in place to fill in the cracks and so on until it all becomes a massive web so complex that grey areas become too hazardous to risk.
I can imagine how that might even inadvertently stifle innovation. Considering that new ideas are found on the cutting edge (see Uber, Airbnb, crypto assets) and that the cutting edge is inherently a grey area, small business might become so wary of it that they give up innovating altogether.
Human progress would be left to the whims of only the largest companies with the means to take on the risk. Ironically, progress would prove to be the killer of progress.
May we all live in interesting times, eh? Perhaps this will be one of the few times in history where a sluggish, unresponsive government proves to be an advantage, haha
> But at the very least we are able to move through our day to day lives without worrying too much about accidentally breaking the law
Rephrase to: without worrying about being prosecuted for the laws you're unknowingly breaking. Because we're almost certainly breaking at least 1 law per day.
