Let’s take a few minutes to step back and look at the broader picture to see where AI is headed. Artificial intelligence isn’t just logging into ChatGPT or other LLMs to prompt them so they can provide intelligent output that helps us do what we do more efficiently, creatively, or strategically.
AI is physically becoming a part of the environment we work in. From smart glasses to AI-powered earbuds, ambient AI represents a significant shift in how we interact with technology, and it’s one that every legal professional should understand.
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Defining Ambient AI
Ambient AI is artificial intelligence that is always on. It’s quietly listening and even observing. It is supporting you in the background. It is proactive. It examines the context of your situation, including where you are, what you are doing, who you are talking to, the details of the discussion, its implications, and how your client is feeling. It takes in the world around you. It’s becoming more common by the day and smarter by the minute.
How Can Ambient AI Help You?
Imagine walking out of a client meeting and your ambient AI device has already drafted a follow-up plan, including next steps and key deadlines. Or maybe you come out of a deposition and your ambient AI has already analyzed the transcript of the deposition to find inconsistencies or risky language. That’s the power of ambient AI, and it’s already here.
Real-World Examples: Healthcare and Legal Parallels
Let’s take healthcare. When you go to the doctor and notice they are typing notes on a keyboard instead of focusing on you, ambient AI can change that. Some are already using devices that listen during the visit, transcribe the conversation, summarize the diagnosis, flag symptoms and issues that might have been missed, and update your chart. That allows doctors to truly listen and be present with you as the patient.
Now, picture that same technology inside a law firm. Some firms are already experimenting with practice management systems that include ambient features. These tools capture and organize client conversations automatically, drafting follow-ups, summarizing next steps and deadlines, finding relevant case law on the spot, drafting a course of action, and even creating team debriefs. All of this is only with your permission, of course.
A Glimpse Into the Future: Smart Devices and Wearables
When I attended the Women + AI Conference at Vanderbilt Law School several months ago, after her session, one speaker shared that she could see her presentation slides right in her smart glasses. No glancing down, no side screens, just seamless delivery. She was smart to tell us after she finished her presentation because the entire room was nothing short of amazed and curious, and they wanted to know more. We had many questions! This type of technology is already in use and serves as a precursor to ambient AI, which is always with you.
Think about something similar in a legal setting: Smart glasses feeding you case law while you and/or your clients speak, or earbuds offering talking points you might have missed in your presentation to a potential client. These ambient tools may live in devices you wear or carry. They could be something that sits on your desk, or even pinned discreetly to your clothing. It won’t necessarily need a screen or keyboard to assist you.
OpenAI and Jony Ive: Designing the Next Ambient Device
OpenAI recently acquired the design firm co-founded by Jony (“Johnny”) Ive for over $6 billion. Jony is the man behind Apple’s most iconic products. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has tapped him to develop a new type of always-on ambient AI device, something you could carry or wear that blends seamlessly into daily life. It won’t be a phone or a laptop. It’ll be something altogether different.
The project is highly secretive, but Altman and Ive are investing heavily to get it right. While it may take a year or more, the goal is to create a tool that accompanies you, organizes your business and personal life (if you choose to), and interacts discreetly, not intrusively.
Legal Implications and Ethical Considerations
This shift from you and your team “searching and responding” to your AI being able to “oversee and assist” is transformative, but it comes with risk. When AI is always listening, confidentiality and ethics are very important.
Lawyers must ask:
- Where is this data going?
- Who has access to it?
- Are these tools compliant with our ethical obligations?
Several state bar associations are developing guidance for transcription technologies and ambient AI. As legal professionals, we all need to stay current and cautious.
Getting Started with Ambient AI in Your Practice
Ambient AI isn’t something on the horizon. It’s already here. The question is whether your firm is prepared to use it wisely. Start by identifying the most routine, manual aspects of your day, such as note-taking, follow-ups, interview processes, and repetitive communication. These are perfect starting points for introducing ambient AI, as well as generative AI without ambient features.
Make Sure There Is A Human In The Loop
My constant reminder during AI discussions and consulting is to always, for now, keep a human in the loop. AI is powerful, but human oversight remains essential for ensuring accuracy and ethical compliance.
Let’s Continue This Conversation
I plan to define more AI-related terms and advances in future episodes and posts, as well as to discuss and demonstrate current and future AI platforms and models. Would a private community focused on helping legal professionals learn about AI in a trusted and practical way interest you? If so, I’d love your feedback. Feel free to email me.
Let’s keep learning together.
About Nancy Myrland
Nancy Myrland is a Marketing and Business Development Advisor, specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing practices to build their reputations and relationships, which in turn leads to the growth of their practices.
Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.
She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brands.
Nancy is also the founder of The Linked Course*, a hybrid self-study and online course about LinkedIn, where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*
As an early and consistent adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also assists firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, livestreaming, and AI discernment. Nancy also works with numerous firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to help them excel when presenting online.
She also helps lead select law firms through their online social and digital media strategy when handling high-stakes, high-profile cases and executive orders.
Long story short, Nancy is an integrated marketing specialist, spending her time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:
- LinkedIn Profile and Presence
- Podcast Launches and Consulting
- Content Marketing Strategy
- Marketing and Business Development Plans
- AI Discernment
- Personal Branding, and
- Zoom and Virtual Presentation Training and Coaching
*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice on the platform in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure that they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.
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