Lunch & Learn Explores Legal Tech Revolution 

The Institute for Innovation recently organized a “Demystifying GenAI: The Future of Law and Technology” Lunch & Learn at the 79°West Innovation Hub in Pittsboro. The event, led by Nicole Downing, clinical associate professor of law and assistant director for public services at the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library, brought together a group of professionals to explore the impact of AI-powered tools and how they can serve the community. 

“This event was unique due to its diverse audience, which included everyone from tech novices to software developers, entrepreneurs, and attorneys. My goal was to ensure that each attendee gained insights into the evolving landscape of Generative AI tools in the legal field, while highlighting both exciting developments and areas of concern for the future,” said Downing. 

During the 90-minute session, Downing provided attendees a comprehensive overview of generative AI and its practical applications, covering a range of tools from general-purpose chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard to specialized AI solutions for legal practice. She discussed the benefits of these technologies, such as increased efficiency and productivity, as well as potential concerns, including hallucinations, biases, confidentiality issues, and legal implications. Downing underscored the importance of prompt engineering, which involves creating clear instructions, setting parameters, providing examples, adding context, and asking follow-up questions to optimize AI-generated outputs, while stressing the significance of teaching these concepts to law students, as they will play a crucial role in the future of legal practice. 

By hosting the event at the 79°West Innovation Hub, the Institute for Innovation demonstrated its commitment to engaging with the broader community and fostering a collaborative approach to understanding the impact of generative AI on the legal field. 

Aaron Gard, Executive Director of the Institute for Innovation at the UNC School of Law, knows very well the importance of keeping up with advances in tech. “As with any new technology, there are early adopters who jump in with both feet, and others who take their time. AI is here to stay, so the better we can understand how it works and how we can leverage it for our practice, the better. From a legal perspective, it’s also important that we recognize that the law is typically slow to catch up to rapidly evolving tech. Society is only beginning to understand AI’s far-reaching potential, so it will be interesting to see how regulators respond around the world.”