OpenAI introduces new AI model for law firms - ABA Journal

OpenAI introduces new AI model for law firms

OpenAI is joining the ranks of generative artificial intelligence companies making a significant investment in law, unveiling Thursday a model that is tailored for professional legal work.

The new model, Astra for Law: GPT-6 Astra, offers a dedicated legal search index and custom instructions for legal analysis and writing to help lawyers research facts, develop arguments and identify weaknesses in cases, according to an announcement by OpenAI. It also will allow law firms and legal technology companies to build their own applications and workflows.

Through its legal search index, Astra for Law can search U.S. caselaw, statutes, regulations, court rules and administrative decisions across more than 230 million URLs, the company said. To further extend access to caselaw, OpenAI is partnering with Free Law Project, a nonprofit that created the CourtListener database of federal and state court opinions.

To meet the confidentiality needs of clients, OpenAI is incorporating “legal-grade trust and controls.” The company will offer a “trusted access program” that provides eligible lawyers and people working under their supervision with access to Astra for Law. Its offering also includes “zero data retention,” and usage of ChatGPT Enterprise is excluded from human review, the company said.

OpenAI additionally noted that it has been working with several firms—including Cooley; Ropes & Gray; and Sullivan & Cromwell—to use ChatGPT Enterprise to build tools that fit into and improve their workflows. It is also launching 26 partner-built plug-ins, including from Thomson Reuters and iManage, and nine community plug-ins built by lawyers and legal engineers at LegalQuants, LECG and Skills.law.

“OpenAI is investing in law for the long term,” according to the company. “We’ll keep advancing Astra for Law’s model, settings, tools and instructions together, guided by rigorous evaluations and feedback from lawyers and legal technology partners. We’ll also keep improving ChatGPT, so firms can build around their expertise and connect the tools they use.”

OpenAI joins a growing field of generative AI companies that have launched legal-specific models.

Microsoft debuted its Legal Agent in Microsoft Word in April. One month later, Anthropic unveiled Claude for Legal, and in August, Google announced Gemini Enterprise for Legal.

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