The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become a mainstream technology within less than two years of its introduction by OpenAI. While the technology itself is garnering media attention, the implications of its widespread use are becoming less of a focus. Tech entrepreneurs are increasingly incorporating AI-driven products into their businesses, prompting questions about how companies with limited resources can compete in this space. This trend has led to a growing ecosystem of startup companies utilizing AI technologies to power their products.
One such example is London-based legal services business RobinAI, which raised $26 million in a Series B round earlier this year. Founded by lawyer Richard Robinson in 2019, RobinAI offers a platform that uses generative AI to assist business customers in reviewing and drafting contracts. The platform, described as a “legal co-pilot,” aims to streamline the contract review process and reduce the time taken to review contracts by around 80%. Robinson, along with co-founder James Clough, has focused on targeting small and medium-sized companies, as well as major corporations, with their AI-powered legal service.
Despite initial skepticism about the use of AI in the legal industry, RobinAI has managed to gain trust by incorporating in-house lawyers who work alongside customers to demonstrate the platform’s effectiveness. AI has revolutionized the legal landscape by enhancing the ability of large language models to generate novel text and extract information from lengthy documents. The company’s partnership with AI research company Anthropic has enabled them to leverage their own legal AI product while collaborating on language models to enhance their services.
Meanwhile, cyber security startup Appella has taken a different approach by utilizing open-source models to develop their own AI-driven technology. With a product focused on detecting potential fraud in incoming calls, Appella has secured funding through pre-seed rounds and Innovation Awards. By training their product on open-source large language models and databases containing fraud data, the company aims to offer a solution that can be tailored to the needs of various industries susceptible to fraud.
As more startups embrace AI technologies, an ecosystem is emerging where companies combine their specialized skills with commercially available software or open-source alternatives to develop innovative AI-driven products. While larger tech companies like Google and Microsoft have the resources to pioneer advanced AI technologies, smaller businesses are finding ways to compete by collaborating and leveraging existing AI models. This trend signals a shift towards a future where AI-powered solutions are more accessible to businesses of all sizes and industries, driving innovation and growth in the tech sector.
