Artificial intelligence played a major role in a courtroom battle that ended with Meta facing a $6 million verdict in a social media addiction lawsuit. Texas trial lawyer Mark Lanier says AI helped his team process massive amounts of information during the month-long trial, giving them a significant edge in preparation.
Lanier, known for challenging large corporations, depended on AI during his preparations for court proceedings, especially for cross-examining Meta's Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg.
From Lanier's testimony, he used artificial intelligence to sift through documents, go through transcripts, and come up with arguments. He equated AI to having several well-trained assistants working around the clock.
When speaking to Business Insider, the lawyer mentioned that he got more done in a little time out of the court with the help of AI. His team used Boodlebox, which is a combination of several popular AI systems such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
AI’s usage has gone far beyond just searching documents. Lanier's team loaded daily transcripts from court and had them assessed for what happened during the hearings. It helped identify the most critical documents tied to particular claims and gave recommendations on how to better present complicated facts to the jury.
AI was utilized for analyzing the notes that were taken by jurors during their deliberations. It allowed the legal team to predict possible topics for discussion within the jury room and adjust their strategy accordingly.
Each day ended with analysis meetings among the team members. Some assignments had to be done through the AI platform and submitted to Lanier's approval before going to court.
According to Lanier, there were no instances when AI would be allowed to function on its own. He came across a case where using AI led to misquotation of material from the court record. This strengthened the point about human validation since AI merely assisted in speeding up the process.
The lawsuit centered around the plaintiff, referred to as K.G.M., alleged to have started using Instagram when she was only nine years old. It suggested that applications provided by Meta and Google facilitated a certain degree of addiction among young consumers.
The jury determined that both organizations had been negligent and did not properly advise their consumers regarding potential dangers associated with their usage. Before trial, TikTok and Snapchat reached settlements in relation to some claims included within the broader litigation.
This ruling is expected to draw substantial attention from the legal community. There are thousands of other lawsuits pending in US courts against various social media platforms. Additionally, this ruling emphasizes one of the current realities inside the courtroom, while AI technology increasingly becomes a part of litigation, human intelligence is still responsible for rendering decisions.
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