PwC to experiment with chatbots to speed up work of its lawyers: Report

PwC said that it planned to create customised products for tax and legal clients using tech start-up Harvey's platform

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has entered a contract with tech start-up Harvey to experiment with the use of chatbot to speed up the work of 4,000 of its lawyers, a report by the Financial Times (FT) said. The lawyers will get access to legal AI, helping them in increasing the speed of analysing contracts and carrying out due diligence.

Harvey's software was built using OpenAI's GPT-4. PwC is also reportedly planning to find ways to use the software in tax practice. The firm planned to create customised products for tax and legal clients using Harvey's platform.

PwC said that because it could parse vast quantities of text and write convincing answers to questions, the software could also be used to summarise key clauses from batches of contracts.

Carol Stubbings, PwC's global tax and legal services leader, told FT that the technology "marks a huge shift in the way that tax and legal services will be delivered and consumed across the industry".

PwC said that AI would not replace its lawyers.

Several other global companies have already started using products from OpenAI.

These include names like Bain and Company, Boston Consulting Group and Allen and Overy. Allen and Overy uses Harvey and has also stated that it would not replace any of its staff.

On the other hand, others like Accenture have prohibited staff from using ChatGPT "without permission".