August Launches ‘Live Assist’ Contradiction Detector

August, a legal AI platform built for small and medium-sized firms, has launched Live Assist, a new capability that can join legal conversations in real time, ‘cross-reference what is being said against millions of pages of uploaded case material, and flag contradictions’.

They added that this will be available to all users at no extra cost. All well and good, how does it work?

• ‘Attorneys upload documents they want August to monitor against, including prior testimony, declarations, contracts, email productions, and earlier call transcripts, then activate Live Assist.
• August transcribes the conversation with speaker labels, compares every statement against the uploaded documents in real time, and when something doesn’t match, flags the inconsistency in a side panel with the exact source citation.
• The interface is passive by design. Flags appear quietly while the attorney stays focused on the conversation.
• When it ends, the attorney has a cross-referenced, annotated record of what was said and where it diverged from the documents.’

As the company added: ‘Every lawyer has missed something in a live conversation. The issue is not about competence, it is a bandwidth problem. No one can simultaneously listen, strategize, and cross-reference hundreds of pages of case materials.’

But, one can add: AI can do all those things at the same time.

Rutvik Rau, co-founder and CEO of August, commented: ‘Lawyers have always had to choose between being present in a conversation and verifying what’s being said. Live Assist means they no longer have to pick one.’

Is this a big deal?

Apart from the technical aspects, the key thing here is that August is really getting into the territory of the litigation management specialists, many of which focus on skills related to analysing transcriptions and managing the information from witnesses ahead of a trial, including this specific skill: contradiction.

It’s all part of the company’s strategy to build a very broad platform, across transactional and litigation needs, but also target the smaller and medium size law firm market, rather than go after mostly Fortune 500 legal teams and/or Big Law. And, there are many smaller firms than large ones – in an example of the ever-present pyramid pattern of all markets working in their favour.

More here about August.

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