What are the three levels of AI for law firms?
Law firm AI splits into three levels. Generative AI drafts when a person prompts it: documents, research memos, correspondence. Agentic AI takes multi step action toward a goal a person sets, like assembling a records request and sending it for approval. Autonomous AI runs the work itself: it notices what each case needs, starts the task, completes it, and queues the result for attorney review and approval.
Most legal AI today sits at the first level, and specialized tools sit at the second: the attorney still starts every task. The shift that changes a firm’s economics is the third level, where the system starts each task and the attorney reviews. The test that separates the levels is simple: who starts the work?
What are the three levels of AI for law firms?
Generative AI drafts when a person prompts it. Agentic AI takes multi step action toward a goal a person sets. Autonomous AI starts and completes the work itself, with the attorney reviewing and approving the result. The test that separates the levels: who starts the work?