Artificial intelligence is changing legal research at a remarkable pace.
Over the past two years, AI has significantly changed the way primary sources of law can be searched, analyzed, and utilized. While legal information systems were traditionally used primarily to locate and access documents, they now go a step further by facilitating their analysis and understanding.
This evolution, however, relies on one fundamental element: access to structured and reliable legal information. For more than three decades, Legal Information Institutes (LIIs) around the world have been working precisely to make this information accessible. They collaborate directly with courts, legislators, and others to collect, structure, enrich, and disseminate legal information for the benefit of all.
As AI plays an increasingly significant role in legal research, the role of LIIs is also evolving. CanLII and Lexum offer a concrete example of this with the integration of various AI-based enhancements and the launch of CanLII Search+ in early 2026.
The next conversation isn’t about AI versus LIIs
It is becoming increasingly clear that legal technologies built around AI and LIIs do not represent competing visions of the future. Rather, they are complementary components.
AI systems rely on authoritative legal information to generate reliable answers. LIIs compile reliable, structured, and freely accessible legal data. Together, these two components have the potential to make legal information more understandable, more useful, and, ultimately, more accessible to both legal professionals and the general public.
The question, therefore, is no longer whether legal AI will rely on providers of primary legal sources such as LIIs. The real challenge now lies in how this information should be shared, managed, and reused responsibly.
Trust begins with the source
Primary legal sources occupy a unique place in society. Court decisions, legislation, and regulations are public information, but they are initially made available by institutions that bear significant legal and public responsibilities.
Any discussion regarding the training of AI models, data enrichment, or subsequent uses of this information must therefore include these institutions.
At the same time, organizations that collect, publish, and manage databases of legal information are best positioned to play an active role in making legal content available for reuse. When permissions are required, they must be sought. When conditions apply, they must be met. Transparency, attribution, accountability, and respect for the privacy of the parties involved must be at the heart of this approach.
Responsible AI is not limited solely to how models are designed and trained. It also concerns how relationships with data providers are established and operationalized.
As a growing number of courts, government agencies, and legal information institutions (LIIs) review requests for data access, the legal information community has an opportunity to develop common principles that promote innovation while respecting the responsibilities and concerns of the original sources.
From access to collaboration
For many years, the mission of LIIs has been to eliminate barriers to access to the law.
AI offers the potential to eliminate another barrier: that of understanding.
To achieve this goal, closer collaboration will be needed between providers of public-interest legal information and AI developers. This will require the establishment of concrete models for data sharing, governance, and licensing that recognize both the public value of legal information and the responsibilities associated with managing it.
If done right, this collaboration could strengthen—rather than weaken—the movement for open access to the law.
Join the conversation in Montréal
These are precisely the questions that will be explored during our panel Beyond Join the conversation in Montreal
These are precisely the questions that will be addressed during our panel discussion, “Beyond Search: AI-Native Legal Solutions and the Future of LIIs,” presented as part of the Law via the Internet 2026 conference, organized in Montreal by Lexum and CanLII on October 13 and 14.
Rather than focusing on specific products or institutional announcements, representatives from LIIs and “AI-native” legal platforms will come together to examine the major issues shaping the future of legal information:
- What role will LIIs play in a legal ecosystem increasingly shaped by AI?
- How can AI solution developers and trusted legal information providers collaborate responsibly?
- What principles should guide the reuse of primary legal sources?
- What models of governance, authorization, and collaboration are beginning to emerge?
- How can innovation strengthen access to justice while preserving public trust?
The answers to these questions will shape not only the future of legal research but also that of open access to the law itself.
If you’re interested in legal information, AI, or access to justice, we hope you’ll join the discussion in Montreal this coming October.
