KM – A Growing AI Battleground, As Ayfie Bags New Client

AI company, Ayfie, which handles text search and analytics, has bagged a new law firm client for its KM-focused ‘Locator‘ application, as interest in tapping tools to reveal internal knowledge grows across the market.

In this case, Ayfie has bagged SANDS, a top Norwegian law firm and the third it has picked up in this Nordic country. SANDS will use Locator initially in its dispute resolution team to help break down data silos across the firm, surface knowledge and  identify connections between recorded insights.

The move comes at a time of increased interest in making use of AI tools to perform search and KM retrieval inside law firms, with iManage’s RAVN team working heavily in this field already, (see story on the group’s KM-focused strategy).

Interestingly, Ayfie’s Locator can work with firms using iManage’s DMS, as well as a range of other doc sharing systems, including SharePoint and HighQ. It can also be used to connect to Practical Law.

Ayfie has sought to differentiate itself from other AI companies in the legal field with its focus on computational linguistics. It is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with three offices in the US – Denver, New York, Washington D.C., and across Europe – Munich, Stockholm and London.

The firm has increased its commitment to the UK legal market and it’s understood there are several ongoing developments in this key market, but which the company cannot currently talk about.

In Norway, as noted, SANDS is the third Norwegian firm to sign with Ayfie, after BAHR and Thommessen. BAHR also previously signed up with legal AI rival, Luminance.

The company added that in terms of its work with SANDS its Locator for knowledge discovery will provide ‘fast and intelligent views into SANDS’ most relevant information by automatically identifying meaning across multiple data sources’.

‘It normalises and structures disparate data across data silos and quickly connects users to the knowledge they need most,’ they added.

Ernst Ravnaas, Managing Partner, SANDS, said: ‘We are very happy to enter into this partnership with Ayfie. It assures that our excellent team of lawyers are given state-of-the-art technology to further improve their performance when handling complex disputes, to the benefit of our customers.’

Truls Baklid, General Manager Nordics, Ayfie Group, added: ‘Leveraging Ayfie Locator for dispute resolution is a tremendous opportunity as it will create a competitive edge for SANDS.’

This latter point is an interesting one, i.e. that better KM gives a law firm a competitive advantage in the market. We are used to hearing about how transactional and deal-focused AI and automation tools can help make a difference to law firms, but this narrative is instead all around the idea that better access to lawyers’ collective knowledge and insights is a key differentiator.

The hope is this new range of KM tools could lead to a better work product that will help the firm deliver in turn a better outcome for the clients. There’s also a potential for time saving in terms of internal research, with AI-driven KM systems allowing lawyers and professional support teams to work faster and/or dig deeper in less time than before.