#19 AI Writes Emails and Sources of AI Knowledge
This week, I share an AI tool that writes emails and some sources of AI knowledge.
AI will change the world, but how will it change M&A? I want to focus on AI’s impact on M&A in this newsletter. I am not an expert on either M&A or AI, but I want to learn about both topics and how they intersect. I thought there might be others in my situation (or people who are experts in one field or the other) who would find information on M&A and AI helpful in their careers, so I created this newsletter to track and share what I learn.
Gretchen AI
Lawyers get hundreds of emails each day, often asking them to complete legal tasks. “Gretchen” is an AI tool that writes emails and completes low-level legal tasks automatically.
How it Works
Gretchen plugs into Outlook and a firm’s document management system. When an email comes in, the lawyer can select Gretchen, and Gretchen will prompt the user to select a client from the firm’s document management system and select documents that are responsive to the client’s question. Gretchen then “reads” the documents and responds to the client’s question in an email written in the user’s typical tone.
In the video, the client asks whether his business can accept an investment from an investor. The user selects the relevant corporate documents from the file management system and prompts Gretchen to draft a reply. Gretchen drafts a reply to the email, citing the relevant portions of the documents that are responsive to the client’s question.
The website also states that Gretchen bases its response on past emails sent by the user, allowing it to “write” as the user does. In other words, Gretchen is trained on the user’s past emails.
Conclusion
I think this is a good idea. Lawyers, especially M&A lawyers, get a lot of emails each day. A product that can automate some of the less labor-intensive replies, like the example above, would save a lot of time for more substantive legal work.
There are a couple of things that would make Gretchen better. First, Gretchen’s current highest plan allows only 250 emails per month, which is likely insufficient for most M&A lawyers who are receiving 250 per day. Second, Gretchen is missing the ability to prompt the model to draft a reply. Gretchen currently drafts emails by only looking at the relevant documents and past emails. It would be nice to be able to prompt the model to get a more customized response. For example, a user may want to use a different tone than he or she usually does, and Gretchen cannot provide that (pretty straight forward) level of customization.
Where to Learn About AI
I thought I would share a list of the places where I have found useful information about AI:
All of these give good and understandable lessons on AI, and I encourage you to check them out!
About me
My name is Parker Lawter, and I am a law student pursuing a career as an M&A lawyer. I am in my last semester of law school, and with some extra time on my hands, I decided to create this newsletter. I hope it is informative and helpful to anyone who reads it! I am not an expert at either M&A or AI, but I am actively pursuing knowledge in both areas, and this newsletter is a part of that pursuit. I hope you’ll join me!
Follow me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/parker-w-lawter-58a6a41b
All views expressed are my own!