Choosing the Right AI Opportunities: A Dialogue from AI Visionaries

Jim Calvert, principal at Troutman Pepper eMerge, was quoted in the April 9, 2024 Relativity Blog article, “Choosing the Right AI Opportunities: A Dialogue from AI Visionaries.”

James Calvert holds a similar objective in his work. As principal at Troutman Pepper eMerge, he has the freedom to lean into his curiosity, explore a wide array of technology to help improve processes and results for clients, and advocate for those processes and clients.

Calvert attributes eMerge’s head start on AI adoption to their focus on efficiency:

“Over the years, we have been at the leading edge of adoption for new technologies, including many different types of AI, driven by our philosophy of trying to be as efficient as possible in helping our clients and case teams accomplish their goals. We are quick to try out new technologies, adopt them into our workflows, and to develop them ourselves when the market isn’t currently filling a need we’ve identified.”

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It seems that the pros agree with us. Calvert is straightforward about his thoughts on this: “The most important factor is trust. We need to be able trust that our partners are approaching development in a principled and ethical manner.” He adds that factors like reliability, scalability, and openness to collaboration also hold weight when considering potential partnerships.

But what does it look like to have trust in systems that are growing and changing so rapidly? When it comes to AI, confidence is born from deep, tested understanding. For Calvert to move forward with an opportunity, he and his team need to trust that the partner knows how the model is built, how it interacts with client data, and how it’ll be protected against any use beyond what’s intended.

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Calvert shares, “What I’m perhaps most excited about at this point are the potential uses and reaches of this tech that we—or at least I—are not even contemplating at this point.”

His five-to-ten-year plan for the future of AI is expectant. He predicts similar types of people—subject matter experts, e-discovery lawyers, technologists—solving the same types of problems as we solve today but armed with a much more powerful toolkit. A toolkit that will participate in the very process of determining how to best use itself. Though, this future can feel far away, Calvert is adamant that participating in incremental changes now will get us there.

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Calvert suggests encouraging your organization, your colleagues—heck, even a friend or family member—to try AI out in a non-consequential way and with low expectations.

“The more people interact with AI and become comfortable communicating with it, including discerning the good from the bad, the better our prospects for widespread adoption and development,” he reasons.