Generative AI
This resource originated as a primary-source appendix for presentations on Generative AI we began delivering in December 2022. We are still going. We offer introductory GenAI presentations for larger audiences still getting up to speed. We partner with law firms on CLEs that address the many GenAI-related legal and regulatory considerations that add to complexity* and impact strategy.* We lead high-level conversations among informed stakeholders re real-world use cases for GenAI.* Feel free to reach out.
As our presentation grew, so did our appendix. So we put it online. We’ve added supplemental material (not in the presentation) and maintained historical materials (fallen out of the presentation given how quickly the topic moves). The resource is comprehensive insofar as it contains a primary source for every slide in our master deck. But a truly comprehensive resource that encompasses the vast and rapidly evolving subject of Generative AI is beyond our capacity. We’re giving you a lot, for free. But we would never pretend this is everything.We continue to build this resource. If you see a glaring hole, feel free to reach out. We’re always looking to make the content more valuable.
Caught our Attention
Orientation
Intros & Tech
Performance
Enterprise Embraces LLMs
Big Tech Pivot
GenAI in Legal
SALI & Legal Language
Regulation
Lawsuits & Investigations
Data Security
Privacy
Privilege
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Jobs
Startups & Capital
Consultants ♡ GenAI
GenAI in Finance
GenAI in Science & Medicine
GenAI in Education
The Model Makers
Open Source
Responsible & Explainable
Hallucinations
Applications, Stacks, Tools & Agents
Knowlege Management, Graphs, and Retrieval Augmented Generation
Seems Bad
Not All Bad
Things Will Get Weird
Educational Resources
Strategy and Scale in a Complex World
"Courage is knowing it might hurt and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. That’s why life is hard."
- Jeremy Goldberg*
Strategy constitutes a set of interrelated choices that uniquely position an organization to win by creating sustainable advantage and superior value relative to the competition.* The possibilityof winning, however, necessarily implies the possibility of losing.Winning requires knowing you might be wrong and proceeding anyway. Losing is the same. That’s why strategy is hard.
Courage is knowing it might hurt and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. That’s why life is hard.* - Jeremy Goldberg
Strategy is similar. Strategy is subject to a fundamental tension.*
Reliability is the production of a consistent, replicable outcomes. Validity is the production of outcomes that achieve strategic objectives. Reliability is essential. But there is constant temptation to confuse reliability with validity due to our impulse to maintain control—setting targets we are confident we can hit. While circumstances may sometimes dictate we focus on reliability (e.g., cost cutting) at the expense of validity (e.g., long-term investment), if that is all we ever do, we are not playing to win—we are only playing to lose more slowly.
Validity requires placing bets—trafficking in the probabilities, not certainties, that can deliver valid outcomes. While all bets entail risk, some bets are sounder than others. But all bets must contend with the frustrations intrinsic to our VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) operating environment, which confounds our capacity to accurately calculate our odds. Win probabilities must not only incorporate our internal ability to execute but also external factors we may be able to influence but can never control. Independent decisions by customers, competitors, and regulators complicates strategic choices, and make them all the more important.
Indeed, strategy is choice. Strategy constitutes a set of interrelated choices that uniquely position an organization to win by creating sustainable advantage and superior value relative to the competition.*
The possibility of winning, however, necessarily implies the possibility of losing. And we are inherently loss averse. Loss aversion activates skepticism. Skepticism makes easy work of uncertainty. Wherever there is uncertainty, there is judgment. Judgment is, by definition, open to legitimate challenge. Since nothing truly innovative by can proven in advance analytically, the risks of being wrong are real, and recognizable. Loss aversion therefore biases us towards the status quo.
Being the default, the status quo is often exempted from the extreme scrutiny to which change is subjected. Yet maintaining the status quo is as much a strategic choice as any other. It just does not feel that way because succumbing to inertia is less energy intensive. But risk-free, trade-off-free options do not exist, and will not be surfaced by process of elimination. Meanwhile, short-term is easy often becomes long-term hard because strategic choices are circumscribed by positioning—every day, every development, and every decision further constrains the spectrum of strategic choice.
We believe the era of stability—where maintaining the status quo to maximum possible degree was the safest bet—is over. Change is risky. But not changing is riskier. Generative AI is an accelerant of structural trends that were already laying bare the limits of the existing operating models.
Within this context, it merits revisiting the definition of a project*:
Projects involve a series of planned activities designed to generate a deliverable (a product, a service, an event). These activities—which can be anything from a grand strategic initiative to a small program of change—are limited in time. They have a clear start and end; they require an investment, in the form of capital and human resources; and they are designed to create predetermined forms of value, impact, and benefits. Every project has elements that are unique. That’s key: Each contains something that has not been done before.
Projects are exercises in pursuing strategic validity. But they come at the cost of reliability. We should have empathy for those whose practical assessment of how politics and resource availability constrain their strategic choices. They are in no position to attempt that which has not been done before. For a prime example, read the memo.
The era of stability is ending. Unprecedent opportunities for those prepared to seize them. So, too, do hard choices and hard work—whether we are prepared or not.
Winning requires knowing you might be wrong and proceeding anyway. Losing is the same. That’s why strategy is hard.
Innovation & Scale
Legal Complexity
Organizational Complexity
Storytelling
Strategy
Delivering Legal Services
While statistics vary, the global market for legal services is currently estimated at ~$850 billion, reaching $1 trillion in ~2026, with a CAGR of anywhere from 3.4% to 9% depending on your source. The market for enabling technology across three related categories—legal tech, compliance (RegTech), and contracts (KTech)—is even harder to size but likely in the range of $16 billion and on a trajectory to triple in size over the next five years.*
Consistent with increased demand driven by increasing legal complexity*, legal services should grow. Consistent with the increased need for innovation and scale*, legal technology should grow far faster in percentage terms but still remain much smaller in raw dollars. What fascinates LexFusion is how the intersection of increased demand for legal services and the increased demand for legal innovation will alter the landscape for buying, selling, and delivering legal services.
In our opinion, the best overview for understanding the history and trajectory of the corporate legal market is the Integrated Law whitepaper from Factor.
CAVEAT: the PeopleLaw sector and attendant considerations around access to justice are of critical importance. These topics absolutely merit attention and are in no way beyond the scope of our personal interests. But these genuine crises (just like climate change, functional democracy, etc.) are beyond the purview of our professional expertise. We urge you to follow the likes of Sarah Glassmeyer, Ekua Hackman, John Grant, Chase Hertel, Natalie Anne Knowlton, Quentin Steenhuis, Sam Harden, Kristen Sonday, and the legion of true subject-matter experts endeavoring to improve access.
