Why 2023 Will Be The Year of AI + My First Music Video
ChatGPT Did Not Write This Song
In case you haven’t noticed, the team at Killer Whale Strategies is breathless about ChatGPT (and all this generative AI stuff). I’ll tell you some of our big AI predictions for 2023 below, but first some fun. Today, in honor of the holiday season, I’m releasing my very first #legaltechmusicvideo.1 The team at Zach Abramowitz is Legally Disrupted and Killer Whale Strategies wishes you and yours a Happy Holidays. Some years, the holidays are awesome, some years they are less awesome. My hope is that, regardless of how they find you this year, this video makes you laugh and adds some holiday cheer.
Here’s the backstory: over a year and a half ago, I was messaging with legal pricing guru Jae Um and somehow we got to talking about recasting King George from Hamilton as an over-the-top bravado-filled but client-spurned attorney. And then Jae dropped the first line “You say, the price of my hour’s not a price that you’re willing to pay. You cry, in your eBilling system as you see my bills come by.” I. Was. 🤯🤯🤯Opportunist that I am (Jae’s words, not mine), I immediately pounced and told her we should write this and turn it into a song. As I told her at the time, “There’s not nearly enough showtime and jazz in #legaltech, and I intend to change that.”
And so, I did what anyone would have done. Dropped work, wrote the rest of the lyrics (thankfully this was pre-ChatGPT), learned the piano accompaniment, and then hired the very talented Rivka Fertig and Shir Eldad to help me create the video. I have to be careful about crediting Jae too much because, quite selfishly, I want to take credit for the whole thing! Also, Jae has such a strong brand that it often seems to me that people will credit her for their own ideas as a backdoor way of associating their brand with hers. I want to make sure I don’t do that, but I still need to give her credit for inspiring me and encouraging me to do this.
Now the funny part of this is that I filmed this video a while ago but then showed it to my mother who said, “Isn’t this going to insult all of your clients?” Good point Mom😬 and, somehow, I hadn’t thought of that — even though the entire premise of the song is about being fired by a client. I mean, you’d think I would take my own hint! So, naturally, I decided, not to axe the video, but simply to wait till the holidays, when ‘tis the season for roasting. Hopefully, we all have enough holiday cheer to laugh at ourselves.
In 2023, I’m going to be doing a lot more audio/video content besides for the Higher Bar Webinar Series, sponsored by Axiom (tune in every other Wednesday at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific). I’ll promote some but NOT all of those videos here on the newsletter, so if you don’t want to miss out on any of that content go hit, nay SMASH, the subscribe button on my new YouTube channel which launches today. Last, if you enjoyed the video, please share it with others who need to smile.
Now let’s get to why you really came here: ChatGPT and specifically me getting breathless and overreacting to it.
I said it in my webinar last week, and I said it to Legaltech News: ChatGPT is a very big deal and I expect it to have outsized impact on the legal industry. Generative AI (basically AI that does stuff for you) is going to automate a lot of research tasks and other mundane writing e.g. responding to emails, drafting a memo to files, basic research. Plus with tools like Harvey.ai, which is built on OpenAI’s platform and has an investment from OpenAI ( as you can see from my tweet above Lexion is in the GPT game too) and others are coming) lawyers and laypeople alike will be able to draft documents and get access to legal expertise. Guess what, I’m not the only one who’s breathless. Legaltech blogger Bob Ambrogi had this to say about Harvey.ai (emphasis is mine)
Although the company has come out of stealth in announcing its financing, Pereyra and Weinberg are not prepared to show their product to the public.
However, I can tell you that I have seen an early version of the product under embargo, and that I think that, when the product is released, it will have been well worth the wait, and could potentially be a game-changer.
Here are some others you may recognize:
Consider the cross section of enthusiasts: Ed is the founder of Legal Research company Fastcase which has been at the forefront of AI in legal, Noah is the founder of Kira, Bob has been covering #legaltech for decades and Avshie, whose background is math and physics, works in applied ML for capital markets and is an advisor at Killer Whale Strategies. There’s a reason everyone is losing their mind. Here’s a prediction: expect a LOT more ChatGPT and generative AI content from this newsletter in 2023.
Here was the script of my prediction in last week’s Axiom webinar in which I proclaimed that 2023 would be the year of AI.
A 2022 comes to a close, three issues seem to be on the mind of many lawyers: how will economic uncertainty impact their workload, their lifestyle (and particularly their ability to work remote) and their tech budgets. But, here’s how generative AI could be the December surprise that changes everything: even we experience more uncertainty in the short term, 2023 The Year of AI is going to lead to insane productivity and increased GDP.
Think about going from before Google to after Google. While legal departments are struggling short term with workload, by the end of 2023 they will start leaning on AI and see massive increases in efficiency. You’re going to feel less busy a year from now. Tech budgets for legal departments — and budgets in general — are being slashed, but use of AI by lawyers is going to increase tenfold in 2023 because some of the most powerful AI is now being made increasingly accessible and won’t require increased budgets. At the moment, some companies are rethinking their remote work policies because of the impression that people being in the office can be more efficient. But, with AI-powered increased productivity, the need to have employees in the office is going to dissipate.
And BREATHE!
If you’re going on vacation, I’ll see you when you’re back in 2023. But, I will have plenty more content between now and then, so stay tuned.
This is not to be confused, btw, with my very first #legaltechjingle, which was significantly, umm, lower budget.