Legal AI adoption has surged, with 83% of firms and in-house legal teams now possessing “broad AI access,” up from 61% in 2025, according to a fresh survey released Monday by ALSP Factor. However, the rapid increase in access hasn’t translated to widespread confidence in the technology, with only 22.1% of respondents reporting “high trust” in AI outputs.
The survey, which polled over 200 legal leaders, reveals a shift in the legal AI landscape. In 2025, the focus was on experimentation and piloting new tools. Now, the primary challenge is translating that access into “defensible, repeatable impact in day-to-day perform,” according to Varun Mehta, CEO of Factor.
The data underscores a direct correlation between trust and return on investment (ROI). Teams with high trust in AI outputs are three times more likely to report positive ROI. However, the survey also found that 69.7% of AI-generated outputs still require “targeted edits or extensive rework,” highlighting the continued require for human oversight.
“Accuracy and trust are at the heart of moving to the next level,” Mehta stated. The survey suggests that improved base models, coupled with AI systems tailored to specific legal needs through access to relevant data and playbooks, are key to boosting accuracy.
The financial benefits of AI adoption are proving more readily demonstrable for corporate legal departments than for traditional law firms. The billable hour, a mainstay of law firm revenue models, complicates the calculation of ROI from efficiency-driving tools. Despite this, the survey indicates a clear trend: the more a legal AI tool is used, the more its cost is offset by gains in efficiency.
Factor, an Alternative Legal Services Provider (ALSP), is leveraging this trend by combining AI tools with human reviewers to ensure quality control, particularly in areas like contract review and summarization, which are currently the leading utilize cases for legal AI. ALSPs are increasingly seen as critical to the successful implementation of AI in the legal sector, as they are embedded in client workflows and funded through existing budget categories, according to a report by Alex Su published in August 2025.
The growth of the ALSP market, currently valued at $28 billion, is being fueled by technological advancements, including generative AI, and is creating a divide between firms embracing innovation and those clinging to traditional practices, according to Thomson Reuters.
Legal teams are also anticipating further improvements in AI accuracy. Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs), such as GPT 5.4, are showing promising results, and ongoing development suggests that accuracy will continue to improve, driving increased trust, usage, and ROI, particularly within corporate legal departments.
