AT&T Prepares an AI Portal for Its Legal Service

AT&T aims to equip its legal department with a natural language intake system and an internal knowledge layer built with OpenAI. The initiative, led by the LegalEdge team, seeks to accelerate the routing of requests and better connect cases to past work, while reaffirming that the decision-making will remain in the hands of the lawyers.

AT&T assures that the decision will remain with the lawyers

David McAtee states that decision-making will always be the responsibility of the lawyers. He presents the goal of the partnership as a means to provide better information so that legal professionals can spend more time applying their expertise. Bill Ryan sees an opportunity to extend the legal judgment of the department to a greater number of internal needs and expresses enthusiasm about scaling this capability.

A natural language intake system to sort and contextualize

Bill Ryan describes a planned initiative: an intake system equipped with a natural language entry point. This system would classify and prioritize requests, link them to precedents, research, and past work, and provide the responsible professional with historical context as well as recommended steps. Such a system would give lawyers a more informed starting point and reduce the time spent gathering the necessary elements for case evaluation.

OpenAI and LegalEdge for an internal knowledge layer

AT&T is collaborating with OpenAI to build a new phase of its legal organization, with, according to David McAtee, an infrastructure designed to support a cross-functional knowledge layer. This effort relies on LegalEdge, a team combining legal professionals and technical profiles dedicated to applying AI to major legal issues, with the next step being to better connect the accumulated expertise to incoming cases. The department, which includes hundreds of professionals worldwide, handles requests from across the company and must respond quickly without neglecting risks. This requires understanding each issue, gathering relevant context, and setting priorities, making the intake of requests crucial for the protection of the company. McAtee also emphasizes the importance of easy access to experience to enhance the department's work.