Lawyer says he used AI to beat Mark Zuckerberg in court case

Mark Lanier, an American lawyer who won a landmark social media addiction trial against Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta as well as Google earlier this year, has revealed that his team used a custom AI tool to prepare for the case, which cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

In Short

• Lawyer Mark Lanier, who won case against Meta and Google, says he used AI
• Mark says he used AI tools to prepare for hearings, cross-examination of Mark Zuckerberg
• –Meta, Google told to pay $6 million after jury verdict

In March this year, tech giants Meta and Google lost a case in a US court. The two companies were ordered to pay $6 million in a landmark social media addiction case where the jury concluded that Meta and Google knew their platforms were "dangerous" but failed to warn the plaintiff The lawyer in this case, Mark Lanier, has now revealed that he used AI to review material before he went into court, including on the day he cross-examined Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg after sleeping for around four hours.

Mark Lanier represented a 20-year-old plaintiff identified by her initials, “KGM.” She claimed that she was harmed as a child by addictive features on platforms including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. TikTok and Snap settled before the trial.

Lanier revealed that he and his team were able to get a lot more done thanks to AI. He told Business Insider, "In the 10 hours I might be working outside of court, I can get 30 hours of work done." He described AI in law as a "total game changer.”

Mark Lanier revealed that the main tool he relied on before and during the trial was Boodlebox, calling it “Disney World compared to a swing set in the backyard.” The platform gives access to multiple models including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Users can also work collaboratively with the tools together.

Custom AI tool costs thousands of dollars, says lawyer

However, Mark pointed out that his team was not using a stock Boodlebox tool. Rather, he had worked with Boodlebox on a custom licence costing six figures – hundreds of thousands of dollars – a year, and tailored to his needs.

"We could, in essence, take my brain, take 42 years of my experience, take the things that I have learnt and studied and published and not published and incorporate it into the brain that drove my AI queries and results," he said.

10 additional workers who don’t need restroom breaks, says lawyers

At a time when there is intense debate over lawyers using AI in court, with many judges slamming the use of such tools over fake citations in documents, Mark Lanier says that AI in a way expanded his team. He explained, “It's as if I have 10 additional workers who are incredibly well-trained, who know the file inside and out, who work 24 hours a day and don't even need to take a break for the restroom, much less PTO.”

Lanier said he does not use AI in a way that hands over core legal work unchecked. "I'm not going to say, 'Go do my research and write my brief'," he said. He added that there was one point in the case when AI cited something from the record and he knew it was not correct. "It's not unbridled," he said. "You are an important part of the equation."

The verdict he secured was closely watched because it was a bellwether for thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies. The plaintiff was awarded $6 million, which included $3 million in compensatory damages, with Meta ordered to pay 70 per cent of that amount and Google-owned YouTube the rest, as well as a further $3 million in punitive damages.

During the trial, the plaintiff said she created YouTube and Instagram accounts when she was eight and nine years old respectively, and that she soon began spending most of her time on Instagram. Her lawyer argued that design choices such as "infinite scroll" were intended to keep users hooked.

At the time, Meta said it disagreed with the verdict and was evaluating its legal options, while Google said the case misunderstood YouTube and that it planned to appeal.

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