Navigating legal challenges, whether business or personal, can feel overwhelming and time-consuming. It’s no wonder many people are now turning to generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT to answer their legal questions, with greater convenience and far lower cost than traditional legal services.
But despite the advances made in generative AI over the past several years, relying on a chatbot’s advice on legal matters would be foolish. AI chatbots often return outdated, inaccurate, or even completely fictitious information. They’re also not great at identifying jurisdiction-specific nuances. Chatbots themselves will tell you that it’s a good idea to seek the advice of a real local lawyer before placing reliance on AI answers.
So today I’m launching a new legal advice website, AskLex.ai, that makes that easy. Like other chatbots, AskLex.ai’s chatbot Lex is trained on publicly available legal texts, court decisions, educational resources, and legal articles, with some modifications specifically designed to limit it from straying outside of its competence or using information from foreign jurisdictions.
But unlike other chatbots, AskLex.ai allows you to upgrade your chat to include a real lawyer, licensed to practice in your area. I have some experience with this. More than 20 years ago, I launched iLaw, Australia’s first full-service, fully on-line legal practice, which presented a unique offer: “You can ask a question on any topic related to Australian law, and for only $50 a qualified iLaw consultant in your locality will contact you with the answer.”
Through AskLex.ai, I’m bringing that same offer back today – even at the same price! – with a few AI improvements. This video shows how it works:
How accurate is Lex? Well, while developing AskLex.ai (and moonlighting on a legal advice line), I’ve spent about 400 hours testing it on topics as diverse as drafting a lease agreement, understanding your rights in a workplace dispute, licensing an invention, and negotiating a divorce. A few times, I was able to catch Lex out. But she caught me out a few times too. Overall, I would say that Lex and a real lawyer make a good team together.
One of the most exciting improvements that AskLex.ai offers over my previous online legal advice service iLaw, is that it also offers fixed price phone consultations (currently also just $50 during the alpha release phase), and simple legal document drafting (currently $100). Additionally, the site offers a $100 membership that provides clients with unlimited chat access both to Lex and to a real local lawyer.
AskLex.ai is currently in an alpha public release. During this phase, Lex’s advice is limited to U.S. and Australian law, since those are the jurisdictions that I am licensed in, and have been able to review and tune her accuracy. The availability of local legal advice from a real lawyer is currently to limited to New York State and Western Australia (the latter for pro bono cases only), however I plan to expand the service soon.
AI chatbots offer incredible convenience and efficiency, but they are not a substitute for the expertise of a licensed lawyer when it comes to serious legal matters. AskLex.ai bridges the gap by providing users with the best of both worlds: AI-driven insights and the option to upgrade to professional legal advice at an affordable price. Try AskLex.ai out yourself – I’d love to hear your comments!
