Long-term goal is that every lawyer in India uses our platform: Harvey AI CEO Winston Weinberg

Harvey AI recently announced the opening of its first India office in Bangalore, in a bid to shape the future of legal technology in one of the world’s fastest-growing legal markets. Having been adopted by global law firms, Harvey AI is now expanding its reach into the Indian market.

We interacted with CEO Winston Weinberg to find out the rationale behind this move, the company’s plans in India and its broader vision.

On Harvey AI’s India office plans, Weinberg says,

“Harvey’s Bangalore office will be both a go-to market office to support the significant opportunity for us to grow in India and an engineering hub to reflect our continued investment in our commitment to innovation and technology.”

The company recently hired an Indian-origin CTO, Siva Gurumurthy. On this move and further expansion of the Indian team, Weinberg said,

“Siva Gurumurthy is really leading the charge on a push to recruit great engineers globally to help meet the needs of Harvey’s customers.

He’s been a big advocate for us to enter India, and will be making key hires in the region. We are finalizing exact numbers, but Siva’s team in engineering will be joined by members of our sales team, customer success, user operations and corporate legal team.” 

While Harvey’s pricing isn't publicly available, it is believed to be on the higher side, potentially pricing out mid-tier and smaller law firms. Given this reality, India has only a few big law firms that can manage to partner with Harvey.

When asked if there is a plan to make it more affordable to mid-tier and smaller firms, he says,

“In addition to supporting the world’s leading enterprise law firms, we also have a rapidly growing mid-market business and a focus on in-house legal teams and helping them save valuable time using AI.

In short, we believe our go to market motion can work in India, and we’ll be certain to listen to feedback from folks we trust in the region and adapt our approach to ensure it’s relevant and appropriate for the Indian market.”

In terms of immediate plans for Harvey in India, Weinberg says,

“Our plan is to do both firms and in-house: the long-term goal is that every lawyer in India does work in Harvey.”

One of the biggest concerns surrounding AI software is their scope for hallucinations and inaccurate output. In a space where accuracy and reliability are crucial, hallucinations pose a significant risk to lawyers, especially with their clients and with the judiciary.

We have seen a few examples in certain court cases where judgments have been cited by AI that don’t even exist. A significant concern is how users can work around these issues and to what extent Harvey has addressed them. Weinberg says,

“We get asked this question a lot as you might imagine and spend a significant amount of time focused on the quality of our evaluation work and measuring how it stacks up with other options on the market.”

Harvey has outlined the evaluation results of its AI model performance on legal tasks here.

Weinberg candidly admits that no AI solution is ever perfect.

“With that said, no AI solution is ever perfect which is why our trainings with lawyers are very focused on ensuring they spend time on source verification and assuring the quality of work before finalizing a work product. Harvey’s solution is reliable, secure, accurate and, just like human legal work, it’s important to double check it.”

Weinberg emphasises that AI will enhance, rather than replace lawyers, enabling them to return to their core role as strategic advisors while automating routine work.

“We don’t think of AI as replacing lawyers; we think of AI as replacing a lot of the daily work lawyers do, which is notably different. I think done well, AI will replace a lot of busy work and make the strategy and consultative aspect of the law even more valuable.”

India is yet to introduce a regulatory mechanism for AI. Weinberg offers a glimpse of what such regulation ought to look like:

“I think customers care most about safety, security and privacy, and that a thoughtful policy will reflect those commitments while leaving room for innovation, particularly given India’s tremendous growth and economic opportunity.”

Addressing concerns of data storage for companies entering India, Weinberg says,

“We have always prioritised the privacy, security and regulator obligations of our customers, which is why we offer data storage in India for customers with those needs. We diligently track emerging data protection laws and guidelines and work with customers to ensure we can meet  any new requirements.”

Harvey is already working with the Singapore judiciary. On potential plans to replicate the same in India, Weinberg says,

“We would love to work with the Indian judiciary and government down the line, it’s not something we are currently in discussions on just yet.”