Europe's Legal AI Slop Problem: How Startups Can Fix It

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Europe's startups are drowning in AI-generated legal slop. But there's a way to fix it: judicious editing aligned with a playbook. Here's how.

Europe's startup scene has been on a tear with generative and agentic AI, cranking out apps that push the boundaries of what's possible. But let's be honest—it's also flooded the world with slop. You see it everywhere: LinkedIn posts that read like they were written by a robot, corporate drivel that feels like it came from a template. And now, that slop is creeping into legal work. ### The Slop Hits Legal Work AI was supposed to make our lives easier, right? Instead, we're dealing with what Jamie Bartlett, author and BBC journalist, calls "the burden of AI clog." Cleaning up the mess AI creates means we're not saving time—we're actually doing more work. Contract negotiations and other legal tasks are now buried under lengthy reviews because AI-generated drafts are full of errors. Even the folks who write laws are drowning in it. In the US, the Office of the Legislative Counsel is reportedly overwhelmed by error-riddled drafts from AI. ### The Problem Isn't AI Itself Don't get me wrong—AI has huge potential. LegalTech in Europe and beyond offers plenty of tools to help with legal work. But their output? It's all over the place. Some law firms still don't have proper policies for AI use, so teams end up relying on general LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude for drafting and reviewing. That's a recipe for disaster. When contracts get amended, AI editors often rip and replace content without insight or relevance. The result? Documents saturated with red lines that aggravate the other party. Judgement and discretion go out the window. Many tools can't tell the difference between applying the letter of the law and letting things slide to move a negotiation forward. > "AI should be a blessing, not a burden. The key is judicious editing—knowing when to leave things alone." ### Unnecessary Redlining Can Be Stopped Here's the good news: Europe's startups can solve this. We can prevent legal work from turning into slop and stop the infinite ping-pong match between AI agents. The focus needs to be on judicious editing—where the tool knows when to leave something alone. Amendments should be minimal and aligned with a well-defined playbook. A playbook sets out a firm's position, policies, and approach. It defines what's acceptable and what's not. The tool scans for compliance issues, conflicts, and highlights differences. Then it suggests edits that align with the playbook and offer the best-case scenario for the company. This approach bridges the gap between parties and speeds up consensus without human intervention. ### AI Should Be a Blessing, Not a Burden When used correctly, legal AI can be a game-changer. It lets companies do more work in-house before calling outside counsel. Tools can act as mediation portals, highlighting and evaluating differences before ruthlessly red-lining text. The excessive redlining needs to stop. So does the AI slop and the clog it creates. Right now, users put up with it, but soon they won't. Expectations will shift, and users will demand AI tools that edit precisely, relevantly, and insightfully. The bar will be raised—and that's a good thing.

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