Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be defined as an attempt to mimic human understanding, reasoning, thought, creativity, and action with technological processes. Typically tracing its history to the 1965 Dartmouth workshop, AI has referred to numerous developments in computation over the decades 

Generative AI broadly refers to using AI to generate text, code, images, audio, and video. The quality of these outputs has significantly improved since late 2022 and has, for better or worse, had exceptional impacts on academia and the legal profession. 

The models at the heart of this most recent AI wave have largely transitioned from large language models (LLMs) to multi-modal models, moving from text-to-text generation to processing different kinds of data. Improving model capability and development of surrounding infrastructure, such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and the use of other software, is expanding possible applications for AI. Considered, critical judgment will be required to determine whether those applications are appropriate.

Law Library AI Offerings

The Yale Law community has access to the following AI services. We distinguish between AI platforms and AI tools. Platforms have broader offerings and include features such as storage of a large number of files, drafting, tabular analysis, etc.  An AI tool has a narrower use, such as an AI chatbot providing an alternative method of searching in a database. 

While all the platforms below attest to compliance with numerous security and confidentiality standards, the library is working with Law IT to establish Yale's own cybersecurity assessment of these platforms. Yale classifies data according to a low, medium, and high-risk model. You can find examples of each level on Yale Information Security's Data Classification Guideline webpage. While we continue to undergo the security process with IT to clear these platforms for higher risk data, they may be used in low-risk situations, such as publicly available data for academic use.

This guide pulls out some relevant language from vendor documentation for your convenience. Please visit the linked documentation for the most accurate and up to date language. 

AI Platforms

CoCounsel

CoCounsel is the Generative AI offering from Thomson Reuters in Westlaw. CoCounsel offers workspaces for drafting, summarizing and analyzing datasets, performing deep research on Westlaw's content, and workflow creation. 

• Access
  • CoCounsel is integrated with Westlaw and is accessible by those with Westlaw credentials.
• Training
  • CoCounsel training page
• Confidentiality, Privacy, and Security
  • AI product page
    • “Your user content and prompts are not used to train or improve CoCounsel and associated products or LLMs used in Thomson Reuters or third-party output."
    • "Thomson Reuters AI third-party partners, such as OpenAI and Google, are contractually prohibited from using any customer data to train their models. Additionally, where applicable, we have established systemic controls to turn off third parties’ abuse-monitoring solutions to ensure there is no human access to Thomson Reuters customers’ data or inclusion of that data in third-party models.”
  • Privacy Statement
  • AI Usage Policy

Harvey

Harvey is an AI legal practice platform designed to increase the efficiency of legal practice and writing. Harvey provides tools for tasks such as document drafting, querying data sets, text extraction, and workflow creation. 

• Access
  • Please reach out to the reference desk if you are interested in access. Faculty member approval required.
• Training
  • Harvey Academy
• Confidentiality, Privacy, and Security
  • Yale’s agreement with Harvey.ai places the burden on the user to not provide Harvey with "personally identifiable genetic, biometric or health data, or payment card industry data (such as credit card numbers)."  Under Yale's Data Classification Policy, these data types are classified as high risk. As referred to above, Yale classifies data according to a low, medium, and high-risk model.
  • Trust Center
  • Legal – Platform Agreement 
    • “Harvey will not train any AI models using Your Content or Customer Data. Subprocessors will not train any AI models using Your Content or Customer Data. Subprocessors, except for cloud storage providers, will not retain or log for human review Your Content or Customer Data.”
  • Data Addendum

Protégé

Protégé is an AI-assistant within the Lexis+ database with the capability to create workflows and draft, summarize, or analyze documents. Protégé also offers users a different way of searching Lexis' vast stores of legal information and performing deep research on open web content.  

• Access
  • Protégé is integrated with Lexis+ and is accessible by those with Lexis+ credentials.
• Training
  • Protégé practice page
• Confidentiality, Privacy, and Security
  • Protégé product page
    • “We never use customer data to train AI models and maintain robust data retention and deletion policies. Identifiable information is removed from AI interactions so that we can improve performance without compromising privacy."
  • Trust Center
  • Privacy Policy

Other AI Tools

Coming soon - AI tagging in our A-Z database list and featured tools. 

Contact the Technology Librarian. 

Yale Offerings

• Yale Library Workshop Schedule - Artificial Intelligence
  • Fall 2026
• AI at Yale
  • Landing page for AI initiatives, tools, resources, and guidance at Yale.
• AI Tools and Resources
  • List of AI tools available to the Yale community with data security classifications.
• Using AI in Research – Yale Library
  • Landing page for Yale Library support for AI in the research context. 
    • Research Guide: Generative AI for Research
• AI Guidance for Teachers - Poorvu Center
  • Resource on integrating AI into teaching; consultations are available upon request. 

Selected Further Resources

• University of Michigan - Ann Arbor AI Libguide
• Critical AI at Rutgers
• AI Deals & Disputes Tracker - Columbia Journalism School
• AI Hallucination Cases Tracker by Damien Charlotin