KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Can you rely on AI when it comes to your legal issues
September 25, 2026
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Can you rely on AI when it comes to your legal issues
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Recently we were all well informed about the ADT - Vivint patent litigation, thanks primarily to Artificial Intelligence responses. That AI was used to generate the responses was not hidden; sometimes it was identified apologetically, and sometimes it was presented as if it were authoritative.
Welcome to my world, and I am not the only one in it. What world is that? Being second-guessed by what might be considered, by many, as a higher authority. For me, it is a recent phenomenon; and I mean within the last month or so. All of a sudden I am getting back critiques and sometimes criticism, page after page, analyzing my document line by line. What I once thought was a rather astute, knowledgeable client is now more easily identifiable as someone who just turns to AI and asks it to spit out whatever it thinks.
I've started to use AI in our practice. It is helpful; it is a useful tool. But, at least in my office, we have not lost sight of the fact that it is just that — a tool. So I ask you, if I gave you the most authoritative book on spine surgery, Rothman-Simeone and Herkowitz’s The Spine, do you think you could do spine surgery? With access to AI, which you have, can you draft your own legal documents? The answer is no more than if I gave you a telescope and told you that it made you an astronomer.
Drafting legal documents, and that of course includes contracts, takes a lot more than simply knowing enough to ask AI to prepare the contract. It would be like asking AI to give you a dinner menu without providing the details of what you want, the ingredients, exact measurements, cooking time, temperature variations among heating and cooking devices, and the skill to know when the recipe is wrong before anyone gets sick.
You are asked to design an alarm system, security system, fire alarm system, full integration system. Present it to AI and ask it for more ideas, better ideas, and you will get them; so will your customer. But AI still lacks what you have to offer: your experience, your judgment, your field knowledge, your licensing, your understanding of the premises, your communication with the subscriber, and your hands-on involvement. I do not think that is going to change.
The danger is not that AI will give you information. The danger is that the information will look complete, sound confident, and still be wrong, incomplete, inapplicable, or dangerous when applied to your particular facts. In our industry that can mean the wrong equipment, the wrong installation recommendation, the wrong monitoring obligation, the wrong limitation of liability, the wrong indemnity provision, the wrong insurance requirement, or the wrong assumption about what the law requires in your state.
That is why the Kirschenbaum Contracts are not simply forms. They are the product of years of industry experience, litigation, statutory review, insurance issues, subscriber disputes, central station practices, dealer arrangements, employment issues, sales practices and, yes, plenty of mistakes made by others. AI may be able to rearrange words. It does not know which words have already been tested in court, which provisions protect your recurring revenue, which clauses your insurance company expects to see, and which language can create more risk than protection.
Use AI if you want. I use it. Ask it questions. Ask it for ideas. Ask it to summarize. Ask it to challenge your thinking. But do not confuse the answer with advice, and do not confuse a document with a contract that is enforceable, appropriate for your business, and suitable for your customer relationship. There is a difference between information and judgment. There is a difference between a form and a contract. There is a difference between being impressed and being protected.
The same is true for your customers. They can ask AI what alarm system they need, what cameras they should install, whether they need fire protection, whether they need access control, or whether monitoring is worth the cost. They will get answers. Some may be useful. Some may be nonsense. Some may be just dangerous enough to sound right. Your value is knowing the difference and being able to explain it.
So here is the point: AI is not going away, and complaining about it is not going to make it disappear. Use it intelligently, but do not surrender your judgment to it. Your customer is entitled to your expertise, not just your access to a computer program. Your business is entitled to contracts that were prepared for this industry, not generated by a program that does not know your risk. And if you think AI can replace experience, ask it to install the system, defend the lawsuit, deal with the insurance company, answer the licensing board, and collect your receivables. Then call me and let me know how that worked out.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
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