AI Won’t Automatically Make Legal Services Cheaper

Advanced AI won't automatically reduce legal service costs due to three bottlenecks: unauthorized practice of law regulations that restrict AI use by consumers and lawyers, adversarial legal dynamics where both sides escalating AI-powered work creates arms races without improving outcomes, and human involvement requirements that limit how much AI can accelerate processes. Historical parallels like digitization show productivity gains don't translate to lower costs in adversarial systems—discovery costs remained high despite better search tools. Reforms addressing professional regulations, adjudication processes, and lawyer roles are necessary for AI to genuinely improve access and affordability rather than just making legal work production cheaper.