British startup that became the first firm in the world to be regulated to provide AI legal services. Co-founded by Philip Young, the only lawyer on the team.
Garfield helps creditors pursue small claims, defined as unpaid debts below £10,000 ($13,800). Taking people to court for unpaid bills is a daunting process for most people; if a lawyer gets involved, it quickly becomes uneconomic. Generative AI can make this much more affordable. Businesses can connect their accounting software to Garfield, which ingests invoices and tells them whether they have a valid claim. It can then send out letters for action—often enough to prompt debtors to pay up—and help claimants in court.
The model works in part because the small-claims process has "relatively well-defined inputs and outputs and has a relatively finite universe of possibilities", according to Young. More complex litigation claims would have to cope with many more permutations, which would increase the potential for errors.
The perversity of nature is nowhere better demonstrated by the fact that, when exposed to the same atmosphere, bread becomes hard while crackers become soft.