In the fast-evolving landscape of legal technology, the competition among firms to deploy AI tools tailored for the legal industry is fierce. This week, as legal tech titan Clio hosts its user conference with NetDocuments hot on its heels next week, industry giants like LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters are all vying for a larger slice of the market. Each of these players relies heavily on foundational models provided by AI behemoths like OpenAI, setting the stage for what could be a major shake-up in the industry.

Enter Harvey, the new powerhouse in legal tech, which has swiftly become a formidable player. Founded by Winston Weinberg and Gabe Pereyra in 2022, Harvey has rocketed to a valuation of $5 billion in just three years and now boasts over 50 Am Law 100 firms as clients. Harvey differentiates itself by offering domain-specific AI tools that leverage a law firm’s internal data and has recently teamed up with LexisNexis to enhance legal research capabilities.

However, despite their rapid success, Weinberg and Pereyra are not resting easy. Their concern? OpenAI—their own infrastructure backbone and financial supporter—poses a significant threat as both a partner and a competitor. OpenAI’s potential to directly serve the legal market or release more advanced general tools could undermine Harvey’s unique value propositions.

The legal tech landscape has historically seen limited direct competition from major tech players like Microsoft, who have typically provided services to legal tech vendors rather than competing with them. However, the tide may be turning. With the legal sector attracting substantial investment and AI technology advancing rapidly, major players might soon decide to serve law firms directly, bypassing traditional legal tech vendors.

This potential shift is made all the more ironic considering that legal tech vendors themselves have been considering direct approaches to end clients, potentially encroaching on law firm territories. The same AI advancements that have fueled growth and investment in legal tech could now empower larger tech companies to disrupt the current ecosystem, challenging the middlemen they once supported.

As the legal tech world watches these developments unfold, the message from Harvey’s founders is clear: the sector must adapt swiftly and innovate continuously to stay competitive in the face of emerging threats from giants like OpenAI. For anyone invested in the future of legal technology, ignoring these shifts is not an option. When Harvey talks competition, the rest of the legal tech world should indeed listen.