Artificial intelligence startup Synthesia’s newest “lawyer” doesn’t have a law degree, a lawyer card, or even a pulse.
The company, valued at $4 billion as of January, sells software that helps companies create videos with digital avatars for corporate training and marketing. Now, one of the company’s executives is using the same technology to augment its legal department.
Gabe Stern, General Counsel at Synthesia, said the company has built a legal AI avatar designed to chat with prospective clients’ legal and procurement teams.
Stern said Synthesia handles a large number of contracts. The biggest time loss is not marking up contracts. This includes everything from scheduling phone calls, answering recurring questions, and having point-to-point discussions with the opposing attorney.
The legal avatar is still being tested privately, but Stern said the idea is to let the avatar handle the early stages of negotiations, or at least let the conversation move forward before human lawyers intervene.
“Essentially, I’ve been trying to recreate a successful lawyer,” he said.
This project is another example of “vibe coding.” This is a trend where non-engineers use AI tools to build software by describing what they want in plain language. What once required a team of developers can now be prototyped by a lawyer in days.
Gabe Stern, the real General Counsel of Synthesia. synthesia
Stern said it took about two weeks to create the first prototype using the company’s low-code platform and a custom version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. “I’m not a programmer,” he said. Now you can build agents in a matter of hours.
Stern is also part of a broader shift at in-house counsel, which has become one of the industry’s most avid adopters of generative artificial intelligence. Unlike law firms, which make money by the hour, corporate lawyers are usually judged on how quickly they can get a yes answer. Many companies already use tools to draft documents, compare terms and conditions, and summarize rules.
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On a Zoom call, Stern shared his screen to show us how it works. First, Stern’s video avatar greeted me. The plaid shirt and stubble were convincing enough. The prize was the hand, which continued to cycle through the same gestures.
The avatar then introduced me to another avatar, Willow, who guided me through Synthesia’s master subscription agreement, an agreement that sets out the basic terms of service. “Don’t worry,” Fake Stern said, “all discussions with this agent are under a non-disclosure agreement.”
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During the demonstration, Mr. Willow spoke with authority, albeit a little late. Answered real-time questions about security and liability. When asked about Synthesia’s liability cap (the maximum amount it must pay if something goes wrong under the contract), Mr. Willow gently probed the concerns behind the request and pushed back on the request for unlimited damages.
Under the hood, Willow will come out of its closed position, Stern said. A body of internal and public documentation. This includes company policies, template contracts, and a handbook detailing Synthesia’s preferred negotiating position.
Stern said he is not aware of any legitimate startups developing anything like a legal avatar. (Synthesia competes with HeyGen and Colossyan in creating videos using avatars.) In his view, any company could use Synthesia’s technology to create their own version of Willow.
In the long term, Stern hopes to deploy the avatar as another pawn in Synthesia’s small legal department to help practice negotiation. It also serves as a live product demo for prospective clients’ lawyers and procurement teams who will use it.
The difficult part, Stern said, is trying to teach the avatars how to act like believable human lawyers. Although they currently rely primarily on voice cues and tone, real lawyers can read the room and intuitively know the best way to close a problem or deal.
A Synthesia spokesperson said the next version of the technology will be able to detect visual cues such as eye contact and body language. Still, there’s no substitute for the real deal.
Stern is the first to admit that not everyone will be a fan of Willow. Some early technology adopters and efficiency-minded individuals may appreciate the ability to quickly get to the point with avatars. Other companies will become dissatisfied and seek human trading partners who can provide a better experience, he said.
“I think we’re going to see everything,” Stern said.
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