What\u2019s notable about this year\u2019s list is less the names and more the tenor of what the honorees are saying. Scan the quotes on the Relativity page and you\u2019ll notice a theme. Almost nobody is talking about AI in the breathless, revolutionary terms that dominated legal tech marketing circa 2023. The vibe has shifted from \u201cAI will transform everything!\u201d to \u201cAI is already here, and the real work is making it reliable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHumans have a tendency to associate fluency with authority, often to our detriment,\u201d Adrian Agius of Gilbert + Tobin said. \u201cIn law, where language is the medium of advocacy, that bias can become dangerous if left unchecked.\u201d Dave Fronapfel, working in the public sector, emphasized that \u201cChange for the sake of change is not a good policy for institutions that rely on public trust.\u201d And Ankur Malik of Clifford Chance stressed the cardinal rule that this stuff \u201cnot take action without explicit human approval and a clear line of accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a far cry from the \u201cfire all the associates\u201d fantasies that dominates the venture capitalist discourse<\/a>.<\/p>\n Which tracks with what we\u2019ve been writing about Relativity<\/a> for a while now. The company has consistently positioned itself in the \u201cAI should help lawyers do their jobs better\u201d camp rather than the \u201cAI should replace lawyers\u201d camp.<\/p>\n The AI Visionaries selection reflects that philosophy because these aren\u2019t people pitching moonshots, but people dealing with the day-to-day successes and frustrations. \u201c[T]he implementation and impact of AI in the industries we support function as a great equalizer,\u201d said Deric Yoakley of Walmart. \u201cWe are all learning about it at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n The honorees will be celebrated at a recognition dinner on March 9, featuring Chris Wiggins, a Columbia applied math professor who doubles as Chief Data Scientist at the New York Times. Those attending Legalweek can find Relativity at RelHQ at Convene 30 Hudson Yards or at booth #501 in the North Javits Center \u2014 the conference\u2019s new home this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Relativity Names 2026 AI Visionaries<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n Legalweek kicks off next week in New York, which means it\u2019s time for the annual deluge of legal tech announcements timed to coincide with the event. Among the pre-show announcements, Relativity unveiled its fifth annual AI Visionaries list, honoring 20 individuals the company recognizes as shaping how AI gets understood, applied, and integrated across the legal ecosystem.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s class of 20 honorees<\/a> draws from global law firms, Fortune 500 companies, academia, media, and the public sector. The roster includes folks from Quinn Emanuel, Cleary Gottlieb, Morgan Lewis, Arnold & Porter, Clifford Chance, Google, Walmart, Bayer, and GE Vernova, among others. Legal media even gets a nod with the inclusion of Richard Tromans of Artificial Lawyer.<\/p>\n What\u2019s notable about this year\u2019s list is less the names and more the tenor of what the honorees are saying. Scan the quotes on the Relativity page and you\u2019ll notice a theme. Almost nobody is talking about AI in the breathless, revolutionary terms that dominated legal tech marketing circa 2023. The vibe has shifted from \u201cAI will transform everything!\u201d to \u201cAI is already here, and the real work is making it reliable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHumans have a tendency to associate fluency with authority, often to our detriment,\u201d Adrian Agius of Gilbert + Tobin said. \u201cIn law, where language is the medium of advocacy, that bias can become dangerous if left unchecked.\u201d Dave Fronapfel, working in the public sector, emphasized that \u201cChange for the sake of change is not a good policy for institutions that rely on public trust.\u201d And Ankur Malik of Clifford Chance stressed the cardinal rule that this stuff \u201cnot take action without explicit human approval and a clear line of accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a far cry from the \u201cfire all the associates\u201d fantasies that dominates the venture capitalist discourse<\/a>.<\/p>\n Which tracks with what we\u2019ve been writing about Relativity<\/a> for a while now. The company has consistently positioned itself in the \u201cAI should help lawyers do their jobs better\u201d camp rather than the \u201cAI should replace lawyers\u201d camp.<\/p>\n The AI Visionaries selection reflects that philosophy because these aren\u2019t people pitching moonshots, but people dealing with the day-to-day successes and frustrations. \u201c[T]he implementation and impact of AI in the industries we support function as a great equalizer,\u201d said Deric Yoakley of Walmart. \u201cWe are all learning about it at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n The honorees will be celebrated at a recognition dinner on March 9, featuring Chris Wiggins, a Columbia applied math professor who doubles as Chief Data Scientist at the New York Times. Those attending Legalweek can find Relativity at RelHQ at Convene 30 Hudson Yards or at booth #501 in the North Javits Center \u2014 the conference\u2019s new home this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Legalweek kicks off next week in New York, which means it\u2019s time for the annual deluge of legal tech announcements timed to coincide with the event. Among the pre-show announcements, Relativity unveiled its fifth annual AI Visionaries list, honoring 20 individuals the company recognizes as shaping how AI gets understood, applied, and integrated across the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":145307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Headshot-300x200-qhVw1C.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/05\/robot-job-GettyImages-1084076810-300x264.jpg?resize=300%2C264&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
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Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"