Where AI Can Go Next

The areas most primed for AI automation share a few traits: high need, high standardization, and relatively low risk. Think landlord-tenant disputes, uncontested divorces, wills and estates, immigration filings, trademark registrations.

These are exactly the kinds of issues that clog up legal pipelines and overwhelm individuals and SMBs.

They also happen to be the kinds of matters where the legal process is form-based, repeatable, and in many cases, ripe for being put on AI rails.

While none of these are as simple as debt collection, they’re close enough to suggest a future where AI platforms serve as first responders to legal needs.

The Approval Gap Will Widen

There’s a catch to all of this: getting something like Garfield approved will only get harder from here.

Debt collection is low risk and high reward, so regulators could greenlight it with relatively little friction. But as soon as the consequences of failure increase, like in estate planning or family law, expect scrutiny to ramp up.

For firms building similar solutions, that means one thing: over-engineer for reliability. Make the process as bulletproof as possible, and tier lawyer involvement by risk level.

The more human oversight you can layer in for complex matters, the better your odds of regulatory buy-in.

The Legal Spectrum Is Taking Shape

Over time, legal services will likely stretch across a spectrum:

• Fully automated for low-risk, high-volume cases like Garfield’s.

• Human-led, for bespoke high-stakes work like litigation or business counsel.

• A hybrid middle, where AI does the heavy lifting but lawyers provide oversight, editing, and judgment.

Where a legal task falls on that spectrum will depend on its complexity, repeatability, risk level, and who the client is. Enterprise vs. SMB vs. individual matters a lot more than most realize.

It’s not just about “can AI do this?” It’s about whether the user, the regulator, and the client are all aligned on how much risk is acceptable.

Startups, Lawyers, and the New Role Ahead

For startups in the legal space, this is both opportunity and challenge.

Garfield just handed out the playbook: start with what’s boring, underserved, and predictable. Nail it. Then scale.

But for lawyers, the shift is more existential. In AI-led platforms, the lawyer may not be the center of activity anymore. They become the safety net or the supervisor ensuring the AI doesn’t miss something that matters.

That may feel like a demotion but it could also be liberation…

• More cases handled

• More people helped

• Less time on routine

• More time on judgment

The Big Idea

This moment with Garfield isn’t about a single firm, it’s about proving what’s possible. Regulators blinked. The market responded.

And now, the race is on to define how AI and legal services can work together, ethically, efficiently, and equitably.

Essentially the firms that win won’t just have good tech. They’ll have built systems regulators trust, clients need, and lawyers are proud to stand behind.