ROSS Intelligence, Inc.
| Private | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | |
| Founded 📆 | 2015 |
| Founders 👔 |
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| Headquarters 🏙️ | , , United States |
Area served 🗺️ |
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Key people |
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| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | rossintelligence |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
ROSS Intelligence, Inc. is a legal technology company that provides artificial intelligence powered software solutions for computer-assisted legal research.
The company’s products include ROSS and EVA. ROSS supports natural-language processing search queries, while EVA provides brief analysis and case search.
History[edit]
The company ROSS Intelligence was founded by Andrew Arruda, Jimoh Ovbiagele and Pargles Dall’Oglio in 2015.[1]
However, work on the very first version of the research software “ROSS” began in 2014, when the founders have met at the University of Toronto on the initiative of Ovbiagele.[2]
Ovbiagele’s drive to find a better and more efficient way to conduct legal research reportedly stems from his childhood experience that his parents could not afford the legal costs of a divorce when he was 10 years old.[3]
In the fall of 2014, students from 10 universities including the University of Toronto were given the chance to participate in the IBM Watson Cognitive Computing Challenge. IBM gave the students remote access to its cloud-based cognitive computing ability to come up with future uses of Watson.[4] The competition involved preliminary rounds and a final round in Manhattan in January 2015.[5]
Ovbiagele, Arruda and Dall’Oglio fed that “blank slate” version of Watson with legal documents and this way taught it the taxonomies and ontologies of the law using question-and-answer APIs. To further improve the system, the team built a machine-learning layer on top of Watson called “LegalRank”.[6]
Arruda explained: “Without exactly giving away our secret sauce, Legal Rank can figure out which results get preferential results, whether that’s prioritizing a case that has more citations, knowing that a Surpreme Court case should rank higher than a local decision, and other nuances”.[7]
With the approach to tackle the inefficiencies of legal “keyword” research by using natural language processing, the team managed to participate in the final round, where they took the second place.[8] Despite winning the competition that involved an IBM funding of $100.000, the team got enough attention to receive further support by IBM.[9]
In summer 2015, the company moved from Toronto to Silicon Valley to participate in the Y Combinator accelerator program.[10]
Following the testing of Ross in small-scale pilot programs inside law firms, NextLaw Labs, a subsidiary of Dentons, signed Ross Intelligence as its first portfolio company.[11]
In May 2016, US law firm Baker & Hostetler announced its use Ross for their bankruptcy practice.[12] ROSS was used for the research conducted in the bankruptcy case of Bernard Madoff Investment Securities.[13] Steven Kestner, chairman of Baker & Hostetler explained: “The data in that case runs north of 27 terabytes. It is a ton of information, and there are hundreds of cases. So that information has to be utilized and managed […] We were investing in technology there from a standpoint of managing all that”.[14]
In October 2016, US law firm Womble Carlyle announced that it had adopted ROSS to increase its research efficiencies.[15]
On 28th October 2016, Arruda made an offer to the audience at the NHBA Annual Meeting to use ROSS for free for pro-bono and legal aid work.[16]
In November 2016, Salazar Jackson[17] and Bryan Cave announced their partnership with ROSS Intelligence on a full-time basis.[18]
In March 2017, it was announced that ROSS Intelligence would open up a new research and development headquarter in Toronto.[19]
In November 2017, Ross Intelligence appointed Randy Goebel as an advisor.[20]
Company Developments[edit]
On 1st September 2015, the company received a $120.000 seed from the startup accelerator Y Combinator[21]
On 4th October 2015, the company received a seed with an undisclosed amount from Avant Global.
On 1st of January 2016, the company received a $4.3 million funding by iNovia Capital, Hedgewood and Cameron McLain.[22]
On 11th of October 2017, the company announced an $8.7 million Series A funding round led by iNovia Capital and others.[23]
The total funding by now amounts up to $13 million.
Users (confirmed)[edit]
Salazar Law[30]
Sedgwick[31]
Features[edit]
ROSS[edit]
ROSS is an online legal research service that - on a subscription basis - provides answers to legal questions in Canadian and US Bankruptcy-, Intellectual Property- and Labor and Employment law with references to legislation, case law and topical readings. In addition to the answer, the system presents a percentage of content accuracy.[33]
Arruda stated in 2015: “ROSS pretty much mimics the human process or reading, identifies patterns in text, and provides contextualized answers with snippets from the document in question”.[34]
Through the natural-language processing (NLP) capabilities based on IBM’s Watson technology, the software allows its users to pose their questions in ordinary language, “[…] much in the same way they’d ask a colleague”.[35]
The questions can be typed in, but – due to voice recognition – also actually spoken. In this regard, the founders tend to describe ROSS in the media as “[the] Siri for lawyers”.[33]
The system analyses familiar word-groups within the search terms and finds results it was trained to associate with these groups.[36] If the questions trigger the correct associations, ROSS is learning over time to deliver better results.[36]
Ovbiagele further explained: “[…] We show Ross questions and the answers we expect it to bring back. It finds its own answers, compares them to ours, and then adjusts. After doing that hundreds of thousands of times, it can reliably find answers to questions it’s never seen before. It took months to teach Ross how to read law, but now it can pick up expertise almost instantly”.[37]
With an up- and down vote button, users can grade the accuracy of the answer to their question and thus enabling the system to “learn” from the feedback and potentially improve results.
In addition to that, ROSS is actively monitoring the developments in legislation and case law and is able to notify its users of changes relevant to their cases.[33]
ROSS is also capable of summarizing its findings in a legal memo.[38]
However, the memos are described as being on the same level as a first- or second year associate.[39] As ROSS generates first draft memos including applicable case law, legal analysis and a conclusion, it still requires a final touch from a human lawyer. [40]
EVA[edit]
On 29th of January 2018, Ross Intelligence introduced its new software EVA. It is free to use after registration and provides brief analysis and case search.
With the brief analysis feature, users can upload their own or the opposing counsel’s briefs and let the underlying software analyse if any of the cited cases in that brief have been criticized or reversed and thus, received prior negative treatment in court.[41]
After processing, the cases cited in the brief are hyperlinked to the decisions for the users to read.[42]
Users can furthermore highlight specific passages such as statements, phrases or arguments in the respective brief and let the system find cases that use similar language.[43]
With the “generate overview” feature, users can let EVA summarize a case based on a specific question, so that the relevant parts of the case dealing with this question are highlighted.[44]
The Case Search feature lets users search and summarize court decisions.
Media attention[edit]
Since its start, ROSS Intelligence has caught substantial media coverage, including TechCrunch, Wired, New Scientist, Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Guardian.[45]
In 2017, the founders of ROSS Intelligence appeared in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List.[46]
Disruption of the legal profession[edit]
With regards to the question if the system is a threat to the legal profession, Arruda answered: “Whenever something like this happens, there is a sense of panic. A lot of folks don’t know what AI is and does. It lends itself to a more Sci-Fi understanding of a relentless robot. But AI is a relative term. Really what it allows lawyers to do is enhance their abilities. What I think we’ll see is a move away from lettings lawyers spend time on data retrieval and document preparation and more spending time on advocating [for] clients. That is what clients are most open to pay for”.[47]
Bob Craig, Chief Information Officer of BakerHostetler, said: “ROSS is not a way to replace our attorneys – it is a supplemental tool to help them move faster, learn faster and continually improve”.[48]
However, Alisa Benedict O’Brian, assistant dean for career services at the University of Akron School of Law, claims: “I do think [ROSS] is going to have an impact on entry-level hiring. I think that using programs like this will definitely fulfil [the research] need law firms have an at a lesser cost than it would be to hire a new associate”.[49]
References[edit]
- ↑ ROSS Intelligence announces $8.7m Series A funding (12 October 2017). Legal Technology. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ College Student Uses Artificial Intelligence To Build A Multimillion-Dollar Legal Research Firm (24 February 2017). Forbes. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ AL Interview: Andrew Arruda, CEO and Co-Founder, ROSS Intelligence (12 October 2016). Artificial Lawyer. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ IBM's Watson comes to computer science department at the University of Toronto (1 October 2014). University of Toronto. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ AI success story: U of T's ROSS Intelligence returns to Toronto to open new research headquarters (29 March 2017). University of Toronto. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ Voice Powered App Lawyers Your Lawyer May Soon Ask This AI-Powered App For Legal Help (8 July 2015). Wired. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ Voice Powered App Lawyers Your Lawyer May Soon Ask This AI-Powered App For Legal Help (8 July 2015). Wired. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ AI success story: U of T's ROSS Intelligence returns to Toronto to open new research headquarters (29 March 2017). University of Toronto. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ Toronto-born startup gets international attention for taking Watson to law school (5 August 2015). IT Business. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ San Francisco-based ROSS Intelligence come back to Toronto (5 June 2017). Panamerican World. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ Voice Powered App Lawyers Your Lawyer May Soon Ask This AI-Powered App For Legal Help (8 July 2015). Wired. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ AI Lawyer “Ross” Has Been Hired By Its First Official Law Firm (11 May 2016). Futurism. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ IBM’s artificially intelligent lawyer Ross gets hired (31 May 2015). 'Leaders League. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ Steven Kestner Of BakerHostetler, On Adopting ROSS A.I., Strategic Expansion, And Organic Growth (20 July 2016). Forbes. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ US Law Firm Womble Carlyle Adopts ROSS’s AI Research System (7 October 2016). Artificial Lawyer. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ Formulating a New Future (16 November 2016). New Hampshire Bar Association. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ Salazar Jackson Enters World of AI With ROSS Intelligence (4 November 2016). Daily Business Review. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ ROSS's Andrew Arruda on the Bryan Cave Deal and the AI Pioneer's Goals (7 December 2016). Artificial Lawyer. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ AI success story: U of T's ROSS Intelligence returns to Toronto to open new research headquarters (29 March 2017). University of Toronto. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ Legal AI Co. ROSS Appoints AI Guru Randy Goebel As Advisor (13 November 2017). Artificial Lawyer. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ Y Combinator: ROSS Intelligence Leverages IBMs Watson To Make Sense Of Legal Knowledge (27 July 2015). University Of Toronto. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ ROSS Intelligence Funding Rounds. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ AI Legal Research Platform ROSS Gets $8.7M Series A Funding (11 October 2017). Law Sites. Last accessed February 25, 2018.
- ↑ In a first, a BigLaw firm announces it will use artificial intelligence in one of its practice areas (9 May 2016). ABA Journal. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ Toronto developed robo-lawyer ‘hired’ by U.S. firm (19 May 2016). The Star. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ ROSS's Andrew Arruda on the Bryan Cave Deal and the AI Pioneer's Goals (7 December 2016). Artificial Lawyer. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ College Student Uses Artificial Intelligence To Build A Multimillion-Dollar Legal Research Firm (24 February 2017). Forbes. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ How a U of T legal research startup is making lawyers more productive: Wired magazine (20 November 2017). University of Toronto. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ Interview With Andrew Arruda – CEO And Co Founder Of ROSS Intelligence (5 July 2016). The Student Lawyer. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ Salazar Jackson Enters World of AI With ROSS Intelligence (4 November 2016). Daily Business Review. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ Legal AI Market Expands, ROSS Signs With US Firm Sedgwick (14 July 2017). Artificial Lawyer. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ US Law Firm Womble Carlyle Adopts ROSS’s AI Research System (7 October 2016). Artificial Lawyer. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 University of Toronto’s next lawyer: A computer program named Ross (11 December 2014). The Globe And Mail. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ YC’s ROSS Intelligence Leverages IBM’s Watson To Make Sense Of Legal Knowledge (27 July 2015). Tech Crunch. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ The tech start-up planning to shake up the legal world (7 May 2016). BBC News. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 A Simple Guide to Machine Learning (February 2017). Business Law Today. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ Ross the robot is the city’s best legal mind (18 September 2017). Toronto Life. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ A.I. Is Doing Legal Work. But It Won’t Replace Lawyers, Yet (19 March 2017). The New York Times. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ [ https://www.wired.com/story/welcome-to-the-era-of-the-ai-coworker Welcome To The Era Of The AI Coworker] (15 November 2017). Wired. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ Welcome To The Era Of The AI Coworker (15 November 2017). Wired. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ How To Use Case Treatment on EVA (16 February 2018). ROSS Intelligence. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ How To Use Hyperlinks on EVA (16 February 2018). ROSS Intelligence. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ How To Generate an Overview on EVA (16 February 2018). ROSS Intelligence. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ How To Generate an Overview on EVA (16 February 2018). ROSS Intelligence. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ Interview With Andrew Arruda – CEO And Co Founder Of ROSS Intelligence (5 July 2016). The Student Lawyer. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ 30 Under 30 (2017). Forbes. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ A Robot that Kills Parking Tickets and its Big Law Friend (29 June 2016). Big Law Business. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ Firms must embrace AI or risk being left behind (29 June 2016). Raconteur. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
- ↑ How artificial intelligence relates to the legal profession (14 September 2016). Akron Legal News. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
External Links[edit]
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