Source: The New York Academy of Sciences

As we mark the 70th anniversary of Alan Turing's death, the artificial intelligence community finds itself at a crossroads that the brilliant mathematician and computer scientist might have only dreamed of. The question Turing posed in 1950, "Can machines think?", has evolved from a theoretical puzzle to a pressing reality with far-reaching implications for industries worldwide, not least the legal sector.

Turing's prediction that by the year 2000, computers would play the "imitation game" so well that an average interrogator would have no more than a 70% chance of correctly identifying them after five minutes of questioning, seems prescient in light of recent developments. As Nitin Verma, AI & Society Fellow, notes, "As an information scientist, I believe that in 2024 AI has come closer than ever to passing the Turing test."

This proximity to passing the Turing test has profound implications for LegalTech. Imagine a world where AI can convincingly mimic human legal reasoning and communication. The potential applications are staggering: AI-powered legal assistants that can draft complex documents, conduct preliminary client interviews, or even assist in strategizing for cases. However, this also raises critical questions about the nature of legal practice itself.

The legal profession, steeped in tradition and human judgment, now faces a paradigm shift. As Verma points out, "Technologies such as deepfake apps and conversational agents such as ChatGPT still need human creativity to be useful and usable. But still, the advanced AI that powers these technologies carries the potential of passing the Turing test." For law firms and legal departments, this means grappling with tools that could fundamentally alter how legal work is performed and perceived.

Consider the ethical implications. If an AI can convincingly argue a legal point or draft a contract indistinguishable from a human lawyer's work, where does accountability lie? The US President's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of AI in 2023 underscores the gravity of these concerns. Legal professionals must now navigate a landscape where the line between human and machine-generated legal work is increasingly blurred.

Yet, amidst these challenges lie unprecedented opportunities. As Turing himself remarked, we're not asking whether all digital computers would do well in the game, but "whether there are imaginable computers which would do well." For forward-thinking legal practitioners, this opens up new avenues for efficiency, innovation, and client service.

However, Verma poses a crucial question: "Would we truly rejoice in having our AI pass the Turing test, or some other benchmark of human–machine indistinguishability?" For the legal profession, this question is not just philosophical but practical. As AI inches closer to passing the Turing test, legal professionals must consider not just how to use these tools, but how to preserve the uniquely human aspects of legal practice that clients value.

As we stand at this technological crossroads, the legal industry must engage in serious dialogue about the role of AI in practice. The potential for AI to revolutionize legal work is clear, but so too are the risks and ethical quandaries. In navigating this new terrain, perhaps the most Turing-esque question we can ask is not whether machines can think like lawyers, but how lawyers can think differently in a world where machines can mimic human thought.

Read more: The New York Academy of Sciences