Will artificial intelligence (AI) go away? Probably not. A number of the YouTube prognosticators are already questioning all the hype surrounding a technology that most Americans seemingly became aware off three years ago next month. Allegedly, some Americans are concerned that the “new” technology (which has been around since the 1950s) is going to take their jobs, especially those employed in anything except healthcare or construction.
Taking a bird’s eye view of the American labor landscape, my shotgun analysis of AI’s impact on the American labor landscape is around 30%. A report that I read last year from Goldman Sachs appeared to agree with me. The report cited a figure of approximately 300 million jobs worldwide that could be lost or significantly impacted by AI technology. A report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) happens to agree with me as well.
According to a 11 March 2025 report by the BLS, “AI is expected to primarily affect occupations whose core tasks can be most easily replicated by Generative AI in its current form.” Lawyers, computer experts, financial gurus, and engineering wizards should watch out also, according to the BLS. These jobs are susceptible to AI-related impacts.
As a side note, for we lawyers specializing in document review, the BLS says the following:
“AI, with its ability to sift through massive amounts of information and synthesize findings and thereby reduce the time lawyers and paralegals spend on various tasks related to document review, can potentially greatly enhance productivity in the legal services industry. Employment of lawyers is projected to grow 5.2% through 2033, about as fast as the average for all occupations, while employment of paralegals and legal assistants is projected to grow 1.2 percent, slower than the average for all occupations.”
In other words, either legal assistant/paralegal programs will see a decrease in demand for their services or these programs will have to repurpose themselves to meet the needs of attorneys who are focused primarily on making the arguments for why documents are responsive, privileged and/or confidential.
But whether a lawyer, paralegal, or legal assistant, the employee in the legal arena will have to forego the typical work involved in putting together a legal document. Artificial intelligence will do that. The lawyer/paralegal/legal assistant will have to involve themselves more into the answers that address the “why” questions. Junior attorneys in particular will have to start addressing the “why” questions while in law school at a minimum.
Fortunately for law students, they already have an advantage in the “why” department. First-year law students are already mired in the academic or esoteric “why” questions during their first year of law school. Most know what to expect, but all applicants should be heading into law school with the understanding that they are supposed to be ready to address why a legal concept exist.
For those of us who have been through the rigors of law school, this approach is nothing new. Rather, we may see it as being more entrenched now than during our time thirty years ago. So, whether we consider ourselves a part of the ten percent today, we were being prepared for the ten percent thirty years ago. As for those students entering law school today, they may have a head start over other disciplines.
Alton Drew
15 October 2025
Lawyers Write the Bets. Bankers Sell the Bets. 