AI next year may be characterized by rigor and ROI, according to Julian Nyarko, a law professor and Stanford HAI associate director. He spoke specifically about AI for legal services.

“Firms and courts might stop asking ‘Can it write?’ and instead start asking ‘How well, on what, and at what risk?’” Nyarko said. “I expect more standardized, domain-specific evaluations to become table stakes by tying model performance to tangible legal outcomes such as accuracy, citation integrity, privilege exposure, and turnaround time.”