Amazon’s Alexa platform, as a test for whether lawyers will eventually be replaced by robots

An Australian-based legal technology company has created a prototype virtual lawyer, built using Amazon’s Alexa platform, as a test for whether lawyers will eventually be replaced by robots.

Smarter Drafter, located in Sydney, has developed what it is calling the “world’s first virtual lawyer for Amazon’s Alexa”, which creates legal documents instantly, in the same way a human lawyer would do.

The Alexa Skill, as it has been dubbed, operates by asking questions that a real lawyer would and then drafting a legal document that considers the context, facts, jurisdiction and best practice.

It then takes a few minutes, Smarter Drafter explained, for the interview to take place and the legal documents to appear by email in one’s inbox.

Smarter Drafter CEO Adam Long said this virtual lawyer can test whether or not human lawyers will be at risk of being replaced by such robots.