Elon Musk’s go-to lawyer on AI’s impact on the legal industry: ‘Fat in the middle is going to be cut out’

Alex Spiro is a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan's New York office. Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg via Getty Images

High-profile attorney Alex Spiro said artificial intelligence could strip much of the "fat in the middle" out of the legal industry, pushing more cases toward either quicker settlements or all-out trials.

Spiro, a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan's New York office and Elon Musk's go-to attorney , said during a Thursday appearance on the tech talk show TBPN that AI tools could help make it easier for lawyers to decide whether a case is worth taking to trial.

"I think AI will eliminate a layer of a lot of things, including my day job. And by eliminating that layer, it allows you to get to the truth and synthesize it faster," Spiro said.…