The mechanisation of weaving in the 19th century didn’t just affect jobs, it led to years of political unrest culminating in the Peterloo Massacre. Leaders had better be ready for what’s coming with AI, says Paul Ormerod

Last week the US AI company Anthropic released a tool which it says can automate legal work such as contract reviewing compliance workflows and templated responses.

The software does not provide legal advice. Rather, it enables fairly routine tasks to be carried out much more cheaply.

Major law firms themselves have already been investing in this type of analysis. As a result, employment is being cut. Clifford Chance, for example, announced in November that they were reducing their business support staff by 10 per cent.

This brings into sharp focus the key question as to whether revolutionary new technology destroys or creates jobs.

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