In our AI era where AI can be used as both a tool and a weapon, it’s important for AI providers to earn the trust of their customers and regulators – and especially as our laws (largely with the exception of the EU AI Act) have not kept up with the rapid pace of AI advancement.

A wise person once told me that trust cannot be claimed as it must be earned. A vital way to earn trust in life – and in the business area – is to be openly transparent on a consistent basis.

So, it was great to see Microsoft issue its second annual Responsible AI Transparency Report a few weeks ago where Microsoft provides details of the steps it takes to build its AI solutions in an ethical and responsible manner.

The 35-page report is chock full of information regarding how Microsoft is transforming its Responsible AI Principles into actual practices, and I believe that Microsoft is the only major AI provider that issues such a periodic AI transparency report.

Both Legal AI solutions providers and legal services providers like law firms and alternative legal services providers should learn from Microsoft and consider preparing similar AI transparency reports for their respective solutions and services.

Nowadays, there are so many legal AI solutions to choose from as competition is fierce. Issuing an AI transparency reports would help legal AI solutions differentiate themselves from others and drive clarity to help demonstrate why and how they are trustworthy. It may also help legal AI solution providers secure much needed capital from investors.

In our AI era, increasingly in-house legal teams want to clearly understand how their law firms are embracing AI solutions to deliver better legal services and how law firms can deliver lower cost legal services when they adopt AI as a tool to help perform legal work. A periodic law firm AI transparency report detailing which AI solutions are being used by a law firm and how those AI solutions are offering law departments with higher value would be welcomed – and especially as BigLaw has habitually increased their fees to clients on an annual basis. These law firm AI transparency reports would also have the additional benefit of demonstrating how those law firms are adhering to the growing number of AI legal ethics opinions that are being issued across the US.