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The AI Readiness Gap: Why Your Contract Data Isn't Ready for AI (And What to Do About It)

April 2026
Artificial IntelligenceGeneral

Abstract

Something familiar is playing out inside legal departments right now. A new category of technology arrives with credible promises, vendors multiply overnight, and professionals rush to adopt new tools before anyone has fully reckoned with what those tools actually require to deliver optimal results. It happened with contract lifecycle management platforms over the past couple decades. It is happening again with AI-powered contract analysis. The pitch is compelling: surface risk automatically, track obligations at scale, benchmark terms against market standards without dispatching a junior associate for a week of manual review. The promise, in other words, is real.

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Author

Portrait image of Cat Carroll
Cat Carroll
Head of Legal Operations, iManage LLC, USA

Cat Carroll is a seasoned legal operations professional with a passion for legal technology. She leads the legal operations program at iManage.

Company

iManage LLC logo

iManage LLC

Dedicated to Making Knowledge Work™, the iManage cloud-native platform enables organizations to work more productively, collaboratively, and securely.

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