Aug 24, 2023

Share Powered by advanced large language model capabilities and built on an extensive database of US tax law, Ask Blue J marks the beginning of a new era in tax research. Blue J , a pioneer in legal technology , unveiled Ask Blue J, the first generative AI -powered research platform customized for US tax law. This game-changing solution represents a seismic shift in the way tax professionals work and is poised to become the new standard for tax research. “Ask Blue J takes a process that can take days and harnesses artificial intelligence to provide research answers to tax professionals with sources to verify the answers in under a minute.” A trusted name in legal technology and a leading voice in AI, Blue J has spent the past several years curating and applying algorithms to an extensive and authoritative database of tax content. Bridging that AI expertise into a generative AI platform was a natural extension of its core competency and a huge step forward in helping Blue J’s US clients thrive in a rapidly changing environment. “Our clients are constantly adopting technology to be more efficient and strengthen their competitive advantage,” says Blue J CEO and tax law professor Benjamin Alarie . “Being at the forefront of AI technology has given us a significant head start over other AI tax solutions. Not only are we first to market, but we’re moving with velocity and iterating quickly—we’re excited about where our technology is going.” Efficiency, precision and reliability for tax professionals Leveraging Blue J’s extensive database of US tax content, coupled with the most advanced large language models and the oversight of an experienced team of legal experts, Ask Blue J generates responsive tax answers, appends primary sources and presents related content, including cases, in seconds. The technology dramatically reduces the time spent searching for tax legislation and related sources. Early adopters have used Ask Blue J since early spring with game-changing benefits. For junior tax professionals, it helps them get to the starting point much faster so they can work more independently and confidently. Even the most experienced tax professional can increase their bandwidth by an order of magnitude. Accounting firms, law firms and corporations are currently licensing the platform. “Researching accurate answers to complicated tax questions can be incredibly time-consuming,” says Susan Massey, VP of Legal Research at Blue J and formerly of the IRS Office of Chief Counsel. “Ask Blue J takes a process that can take days and harnesses artificial intelligence to provide research answers to tax professionals with sources to verify the answers in under a minute. They can then spend their time on more valuable work. This technology is going to significantly shift the legal research landscape in the coming months and years.” To customize Ask Blue J for the demands of tax professionals, Blue J’s dedicated team of AI and legal experts manages a robust algorithm development program. The legal research team, led by Massey, works hand-in-glove with experienced data scientists and developers to tune the algorithm to the complexities of tax law. And unlike general-purpose generative AI models, Ask Blue J generates results that tax professionals can verify and trust. With safeguards against hallucinating responses, the platform delivers verifiable answers with links to relevant source materials. “To ensure our platform minimizes hallucinations, Ask Blue J is trained to admit when it is not able to formulate an answer supported by authoritative sources,” says Massey. Future development plans include expanding on the tax research capabilities of Ask Blue J with additional jurisdictional coverage, expanding on Ask Blue J’s drafting and review capabilities, and extending the functionality even further with API integrations that securely leverage firm data to create a supercharged data model that delivers novel, excellent answers. Opening the door to a new era in tax research Artificial intelligence has tremendous potential – not just in tax law but in every other field of legal practice. “This is just the beginning. We are participating in a necessary change to improve the law – and in the process make life better for virtually everybody,” says Alarie. “Tax is the circulatory system of the modern nation state. We are building a whole new category that’s making things better and easier for governments, tax professionals and taxpayers, and ultimately making the practice of law radically better.”