Each day, I encounter lawyers who embrace AI with a can-do attitude, and they confidently manage any surprises. I also meet lawyers hindered by fear, and they struggle with the unknown and find uncertainty daunting. Your mindset shapes your perception, which is why evaluating AI’s impact to manage any unintended consequences will instill confidence in your ability to lead and oversee AI projects.
The main goal of evaluating AI’s impact is to enhance transparency, fairness, and accountability in its deployment. One approach (of many) relies on stakeholder feedback that provides insights into others’ experiences and viewpoints, allowing you to better understand how your company’s use of AI impacts others. Functional goals for a feedback-driven approach to evaluating AI’s impact include:
Unearth Biases
Biases can hide in data, algorithms, decision layers, and other AI system components. Negative feedback from customers, employees, and others may reveal that biases exist.
Analyzing instances where people feel an AI system mistreated or discriminated against them helps you locate where biases occur. Then, you can make adjustments so AI systems comply with anti-discrimination laws and foster an inclusive environment where all are treated equitably.
Cultivate Public Trust
Three out of four organizations are implementing or considering bans on ChatGPT and other Generative AI applications in the workplace, with 57% citing risk to corporate reputation as a primary reason, according to a BlackBerry survey of 2,000 IT decision-makers across the globe.
Asking users whether AI systems meet their needs and expectations tells you a lot about their trust levels. Gaps between the AI system’s intended functionality and the actual user experience should stand out. Input on system accuracy, reliability, and usability helps you target areas for improvement.
Use the feedback to design improved user experiences that instill trust. Address pain points and incorporate user suggestions. This demonstrates your commitment to listening to users’ voices and incorporating their perspectives into improving AI systems.
Boost Employee Engagement And Retention
Has AI effectively taken over mundane tasks that lead to employee burnout and dissatisfaction? Ask if employees can now focus on more meaningful and challenging work as a result.
This type of feedback can also reveal gaps in employees’ ability to collaborate and share knowledge. For example, employees may say it’s too time-consuming to access up-to-date information. To enhance team performance, you may adopt AI-powered chatbots that provide instant access to real-time data and answer common questions.
What Goals Have You Set For Your AI Journey?
Effective AI systems help bridge communication gaps, boost efficiency, and create a more cohesive and productive work environment. Collecting and analyzing feedback is an iterative process that supports continuous improvements to better align AI technologies with stakeholder needs and build public trust. Look for satisfied clients, high retention rates, and positive feedback to indicate success.
While you can’t always predict where your AI journey will lead, taking proactive measures to clarify your objectives helps keep you on the right track. A positive mindset will help you navigate the inevitable bumps in the road.
What steps are you taking to ensure your AI implementations are successful? Do you have a plan to gather feedback and measure the impact of your AI initiatives?
Olga V. Mack is a Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, and a Generative AI Editor at law.MIT. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing technology. Olga is also an award-winning general counsel, operations professional, startup advisor, public speaker, adjunct professor, and entrepreneur. She authored Get on Board: Earning Your Ticket to a Corporate Board Seat, Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security, and Blockchain Value: Transforming Business Models, Society, and Communities. She is working on three books: Visual IQ for Lawyers (ABA 2024), The Rise of Product Lawyers: An Analytical Framework to Systematically Advise Your Clients Throughout the Product Lifecycle (Globe Law and Business 2024), and Legal Operations in the Age of AI and Data (Globe Law and Business 2024). You can follow Olga on LinkedIn and Twitter @olgavmack.
