Evaluating Human versus Machine Learning Performance in a LegalTech Problem

Many machine learning-based document processing applications have been published in recent years. Applying these methodologies can reduce the cost of labor-intensive tasks and induce changes in the company’s structure. The artificial intelligence-based application can replace the application of trainees and free up the time of experts, which can increase innovation inside the company by letting them be involved in tasks with greater added value. However, the development cost of these methodologies can be high, and usually, it is not a straightforward task. This paper presents a survey result, where a machine learning-based legal text labeler competed with multiple people with different legal domain knowledge. The machine learning-based application used binary SVM-based classifiers to resolve the multi-label classification problem. The used methods were encapsulated and deployed as a digital twin into a production environment. The results show that machine learning algorithms can be effectively utilized for monotonous but domain knowledge- and attention-demanding tasks. The results also suggest that embracing the machine learning-based solution can increase discoverability and enrich the value of data. The test confirmed that the accuracy of a machine learning-based system matches up with the long-term accuracy of legal experts, which makes it applicable to automatize the working process.