By Gene Marks | The Guardian
San Francisco-based Atrium wants machines to do the work of some high-paid lawyers but says it’s about ‘humans + software’
here’s a lot of attention being paid to how artificial intelligence technology will potentially replace many low-paid, low-level, unskilled jobs like retail clerks, customer service agents and factory workers. But now a startup is taking aim at a different kind of industry – one with highly skilled, highly paid professionals: law firms.
San Francisco-based Atrium has just raised $65m from a few very well-known venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, General Catalyst and Greylock Partners, and recently welcomed Marc Andreessen as a board observer.
So why all the fuss about a company that just opened its doors only 14 months ago? It’s because Atrium is doing something that hasn’t yet been done: use artificial intelligence to completely disrupt the legal industry, a disruption that could potentially replace many high-priced lawyers with inexpensive machines.
