More than a quarter of legal professionals in Britain say that they use generative AI tools, based on so-called large language models, at least once a month, according to a survey reported by the Law Society Gazette of England and Wales.

The LexisNexis survey of 1,200 legal professionals shows that the proportion of AI users (26%) has more than doubled since last summer.

The survey finds that nearly two-thirds (62%) of law firms have already made changes to their day-to-day operations as a result of generative AI.

Changes include launching AI-powered products for internal use, running AI-related training for staff, the hiring of AI experts, and developing policies for the future use of the technology.

‘Hallucinations’ hurdle

The most commonly identified application for the technology is to save time in drafting documents, cited by 91% of respondents.

Meanwhile, 90% said that it could be applied in researching matters, and 73% for streamlining communication tasks. Only 53% of respondents, however, saw opportunities in contract analytics.

The biggest hurdles to AI adoption identified in the survey were concerns over 'hallucinations', or incorrect results, (cited by 57% of respondents), security (55%), and a lack of trust in the current free-to-use technology (55%).