AI contracting tools are proliferating like force majeure clauses after COVID.
As the founder of Playbird (another AI contracting tool), I’m part of the problem. So I want to help. I’ve created this blog post and an accompanying Google Sheet for tracking your evaluations of these tools.
And no, Playbird isn’t the best solution for everyone. I aim to be objective and will only add some Playbird sprinkles at the very end.Alright, let’s decorate this contracting cupcake.
AI contracting tools use AI to review and edit contracts. They are typically customizable, allowing you to create agreement-specific playbooks customized to your particular needs (e.g., maybe you care a lot about permissive assignment clauses or liability caps, etc.).
If you aren’t currently using an AI contracting tool, you should!
AI contracting tools help:
- Make repetitive edits and comments;
- Double-check for issues you’ve missed;
- Store information that you find yourself looking up (e.g., “what can we rep to re cyber insurance?”); and
- Share knowledge with your team.
Shopping for an AI contracting tool is a lot like shopping for a new car — no matter which one you choose, it’s going to do the basic job of getting you from point A to point B (or, in this case, reviewing and editing your contract). That’s because, as far as I know, everyone is using the same out-of-the-box AI models (OpenAI’s GPT-4, Anthropic’s Claude 3, or Google’s Gemini 1.5). That’s the good news.
That said, finding the right one can still seem complicated. There are probably more than 20 of these tools. Your CLM probably has one and there are a bunch of standalone ones. (For a partial list, see this Google Sheet I created: AI Contracting Tool Evaluation Matrix (2024)).
The difference then, comes down to the accoutrements: your workflow, price-sensitivity, use case, and UI preferences (among other things).
The OK News: There Could Be “Deal-Breakers” and “Additional Differentiators”
While the foundational tech is the same, each tool could deal-breakers and differences. I have created a Google Sheet you can use as a starting place to track these. (Note that this breakdown is based on my estimation about how much you will care about these items—but everyone will have their own preferences, so take that with a grain of salt).
Potential Deal-Breaker Questions
- Does the tool fit within your current workflow? Some tools work in Google Docs and some work in Microsoft Word or their own custom editor. You’ll want to choose one that doesn’t require you to change your workflow.
- Does the tool fit within your budget? Unfortunately, price transparency isn’t a top priority among vendors in this space. From what I can gather, the standard quoted price is around $200/user/month. Some, like RobinAI, appear to be more expensive, and you will find some that are cheaper.
- Does the tool use your data in a way you don’t like? Some tools might be using your (anonymized) data to try to create a better algorithm. For some, that will be a deal-breaker.
- Does the tool meet your company’s security and compliance requirements? Some vendors, Ironclad for example, have SOC 2 Type II and dedicated security teams. Other startups don’t have any compliance certifications. Figuring out early whether the tool meets your company’s requirements will save you time.
Additional Differentiators
- Can you export your data? It will be nice to have an easy way to export your data to another system if you choose to move on.
- Is it easy to create playbooks? The easier the better.
- Will the vendor create playbooks for you? This would be nice and I think most vendors will do this, or at least provide sample playbooks.
- Does the tool help me share knowledge with my team? Tools vary in how much context and free-flowing text you can include in the playbook. This may matter to you.
- Does the tool have role-based edit and access controls?
- Does the tool have any additional useful features? Some tools have additional contract management and analysis features.
- Does the tool provide a trial period? All vendors should give you a trial period.
My Advice – Trial the First One That Doesn’t Have Any Dealbreakers
Like marriage, you don’t really know what you’re getting into until you go for it (I hope that is working out for you). My advice, then, is to pick one and go. Once you have picked one, I have another post with some advice on how to deploy that within your legal team (basically, start small and iterate): Some Advice re Deploying Legal Tech … and Dating.
Finally, if you’re looking to compare different tools and vendors, I put together this Google Sheet you can use. It lists all the vendors I could find and recall, as well as an evaluation matrix.
Did I Miss Something?
If I’ve gotten something wrong or omitted a vendor, deal-breaker or differentiator, please let me know!
Finally, How Does Playbird Answer the Above Questions?
Potential Deal-Breaker Questions:
- Does the tool fit within your current workflow? Playbird is a Microsoft Word Addin, so it fits within Word workflows.
- Does the tool fit within your budget? $49/month for individuals, $99/user/month for teams. (Why so cheap? I’m a solo-founder, so I have essentially no costs).
- Does the tool use your data in a way you don’t like? No, Playbird doesn’t use customer data for any other purpose.
- Does the tool meet your company’s security and compliance requirements? Playbird has SOC 2 Type I.
Additional Differentiators
- Can you export your data? Yes, you can cut-and-paste your playbooks into Word or Google Docs.
- Is it easy to create playbooks? You write them the same way you would write any other Word or Google Doc.
- Will the vendor create playbooks for you? Yes.
- Does the tool help me share knowledge with my team? Yes. It’s great to have playbooks easily available to your team in Word.
- Does the tool have role-based edit and access controls? No.
- Does the tool have any additional useful features? Not really. There are few additional AI features (explaining clauses, creating AI-generated comments), but that’s it.
- Does the tool provide a trial period? Yes, feel free to try it for two weeks.