This marks the third year that Relativity has compiled a list of leaders who have played key roles in promoting the adoption of AI in legal applications.
The release of the AI Visionaries list comes at a time when AI has been at the forefront of innovation in the legal field with increased adoption of the technology in the past year.
"Receiving this honor is representative of the pursuit of continuous learning and I am inspired to see those around me embody that approach as well," Michallynn Demiter, an IT e-discovery expert at Bayer Corp., said in a statement.
Demiter, one of the 2024 AI Visionaries, is recognized for experimenting with generative AI to improve organizational management in legal proceedings.
"With the continued explosion of data volumes, the application of AI to our existing processes enables us to expand the breadth and depth of what we're able to accomplish," Demiter said. "As AI evolves in its uses, we evolve our own skillsets and strategies to meet it."
The adoption of AI applications in law firms and legal departments has taken off in the past year due in part to the rise of generative AI technologies, which can create text or images based on data that it is trained on.
These leaders from Fortune 500 companies and BigLaw firms have experimented with AI technologies before the recent increased industry adoption, according to Relativity.
In addition to exploring and promoting AI technologies within their organizations, these leaders also encouraged the use of AI for the broader industry.
Relativity is also honoring the leaders with a recognition dinner Jan. 29, the first day of Legalweek, which is a major legal tech conference.
"These individuals should take immense pride in their contributions to the evolution of AI within the legal industry," Relativity CEO Phil Saunders said in a statement. "The AI Visionaries' accomplishments have laid the groundwork for an inspirational, AI-filled future, and we look forward to celebrating them."
The 2024 list of AI Visionaries comprise 20 names in total. Last year's list recognized 19 leaders. The inaugural list in 2022 had 46 leaders on it.
"In just the past three years, we've seen the adoption of AI challenge traditional legal workflows and exponentially increase ways to transform the legal industry," BakerHostetler Chief Information Officer Katherine Lowry, who was recognized in the first class of AI Visionaries in 2022, said in a statement. "However, harnessing the full power of AI will take more than just time. It will take decisiveness, accountability, patience and, above all else, the power of creative thinking."
--Editing by Michael Watanabe.
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