Generative AI may never replace warm-blooded attorneys, but the technology’s ability to rapidly interrogate information has the potential to shave hours off routine tasks in a way that could upend the way law firms staff matters, charge clients and decide how many lawyers to hire.

But as things stand today, a large language model (LLM) or generative pretrained transformer (GPT) could just as easily spit out a pile of hot garbage that puts you in hot water with the client and the bar. That is why even the most sophisticated Big Law firms aren’t trusting it to do client work without an attorney validating its work product—yet.