In Y Combinator’s Summer 2025 "Requests for Startups," Jared Friedman and team urge founders to build AI-native law firms that will "make the dinosaurs extinct" ^[1]. This bold rhetoric echoes YC’s earlier attempt with Atrium, a hybrid tech-law startup backed by YC that raised $75 million before shutting down in 2020 after failing to disrupt established law firms ^[2][3]. Yet the extinction narrative ignores the reality that big-law incumbents command deep client trust. Also, although partly reduced by recent regulatory experiments such as Arizona’s alternative-business-structure rules and Utah’s legal-services sandbox ^[4], law firms are subject to complex state-by-state licensing. At the same time, incumbents themselves are rapidly adopting AI; among smaller U.S. practices, AI use nearly doubled to 53% in 2025, showing significant internal modernization ^[5]. The future thus seems less like a sudden extinction event, and more a convergence—traditional law firms integrating or partnering with innovative tech startups.

Other News:

1. AI Video Clone of Decedent Permitted to Deliver Statement in Court. In a landmark case in Arizona on May 1, 2025, Christopher Pelkey's family used AI to create a video of the deceased victim delivering a victim impact statement during the sentencing of his killer, Gabriel Paul Horcasitas, in a judge trial ^[6]. Stacey Wales, Pelkey's sister, and her husband, Tim Wales, a tech entrepreneur, recreated Pelkey's voice and likeness using existing footage, aiming to humanize the victim and influence the judge's empathy, which reportedly led to a maximum sentence of 10.5 years ^[7]. This event, the first of its kind in U.S. courts, raises ethical concerns about deception and emotional manipulation, prompting discussions on the need for regulatory frameworks to ensure fairness and authenticity in legal proceedings ^[8].

2. Google Unveils Enhanced Gemini 2.5 Pro Model. Google has recently released an updated version of its Gemini 2.5 Pro model, launched just ahead of the Google I/O conference as the Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview (I/O edition), showcasing significant performance improvements including a notable +147 Elo point increase ^[9]. This update reflects positive user feedback and demonstrates the model's enhanced capabilities ^[9]. The model excels in transforming ideas into functional web applications ^[9]. Notably, Gemini's performance in the FACTS Grounding benchmark further distinguishes it, with accuracy rates of 89.1% (Gemini 2.5 Flash) and 87.9% (Gemini Pro) compared to OpenAI's GPT-4.1 at 74.4% ^[10]. These higher accuracy rates underscore Gemini's lower hallucination rates and its suitability for precision-demanding legal tasks, positioning it as a valuable asset for lawyers seeking to leverage AI for operational efficiency.

3. OpenAI Acquires AI-Powered Coding Agent for $3 Billion. OpenAI acquired Windsurf (formerly Codeium), an AI-powered coding assistant, in a deal valued at about $3 billion—the company’s biggest purchase so far ^[11][12]. Windsurf accelerates software development by auto-completing and refactoring code inside popular IDEs, and it offers fully air-gapped, on-premise deployments so no source code leaves a customer’s environment ^[13]. Because it is OpenAI’s largest acquisition, analysts see it as a clear pivot from supplying general-purpose models to owning domain-specific "application-layer" tools that embed its AI directly in daily professional workflows ^[14][15]. The move is expected to spur rival vendors to snap up or build similarly specialized AI products for other expert verticals ^[15]. OpenAI’s willingness to buy a mature workflow product raises the odds that it could deepen its relationship with—or even acquire—legal tech platforms next ^[16].

4. Google’s AI Just Beat Pokémon. Google’s Gemini AI recently completed Pokémon Blue, marking a significant leap in AI’s ability to make strategic decisions in unstructured environments ^[17][18]. While it might seem like a trivial achievement, it highlights how AI is improving at handling complex, real-world tasks—skills that are directly relevant to the legal field. Playing Pokémon isn’t just about following set rules; it requires real-time problem-solving, strategic planning, and adapting to new challenges—much like the work lawyers do every day. This milestone shows that AI is evolving to manage tasks that require sustained decision-making and reasoning. AI tools are becoming better at managing unpredictable work. While AI still needs human oversight, its potential to assist with complex tasks is growing.

Disclaimer: The author practiced law for six years at Ropes & Gray LLP prior to co-founding UseJunior. UseJunior is a member of both Google for Startups and Microsoft for Startups and has received grants and in-kind contributions in connection with these programs. The views expressed herein are our own and do not represent the views of Google, Microsoft or Ropes & Gray LLP. This is not legal advice.

References

1. "Requests for Startups | Y Combinator," Y Combinator, accessed May 9, 2025, https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs. Reposted or referenced here by Yurii Rebryk, and here by Kunwar Raj, and here by Ezra Clark, and here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.

2. "$75M legal startup Atrium shuts down, lays off 100 | TechCrunch," TechCrunch, March 3, 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/03/atrium-shuts-down/

3. "Law firm startup Atrium lays off most of its lawyers | Axios," Axios, January 13, 2020, https://www.axios.com/2020/01/13/law-firm-startup-atrium-lays-off-most-of-its-lawyers

4. "KPMG plans new US legal business under Arizona program | Reuters," Reuters, January 3, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/kpmg-plans-new-us-legal-business-under-arizona-program-2025-01-03/

5. "AI Adoption Nearly Doubles Among Small Law Firms, According to Smokeball's 2025 State of Law Report | LawSites," LawSites, March 2025, https://www.lawnext.com/2025/03/ai-adoption-nearly-doubles-among-small-law-firms-according-to-smokeballs-2025-state-of-law-report.html

6. "AI used to make video of deceased victim deliver impact statement in court | NPR," NPR, May 7, 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/05/07/g-s1-64640/ai-impact-statement-murder-victim

7. "Sister creates AI video of slain brother to address his killer in court | Washington Post," Washington Post, May 8, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/05/08/ai-victim-court-sentencing/

8. "AI of dead Arizona road rage victim addresses killer in court | The Guardian," The Guardian, May 6, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/06/arizona-road-rage-victim-ai-chris-pelkey

9. "Build rich, interactive web apps with an updated Gemini 2.5 Pro," Google Products Blog, May 6, 2025, https://blog.google/products/gemini/gemini-2-5-pro-updates/. Also covered here by Kyle Wiggers, here by Marko Velic, here by Google DeepMind, here by Itxaso Araque, here by Heiko Hotz, here by Jaclyn Konzelmann and also here, here, here, here, here, here, here.

10. "FACTS Grounding Benchmark Analysis," Kaggle, 2025, https://www.kaggle.com/benchmarks/google/facts-grounding

11. "OpenAI agrees to buy Windsurf for about $3 billion, Bloomberg News reports," Reuters, May 6, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/business/openai-agrees-buy-windsurf-about-3-billion-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-05-06/

12. "OpenAI Reaches Agreement to Buy Startup Windsurf for $3 Billion," Bloomberg, May 6, 2025, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-06/openai-reaches-agreement-to-buy-startup-windsurf-for-3-billion

13. "AI built for Enterprise Software Development - Windsurf," Windsurf, accessed May 9, 2025, https://windsurf.com/enterprise

14. "OpenAI Reportedly Strikes $3 Billion Deal To Buy Windsurf - Forbes," Forbes, May 6, 2025, https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwerner/2025/05/06/its-openais-biggest-acquisition-to-date--but-what-does-windsurf-do/

15. "Forget typing code - OpenAI's $3 billion Windsurf deal could replace devs with smarter AI assistants," TechRadar, May 6, 2025, https://www.techradar.com/pro/openai-set-to-splurge-usd3-billion-on-ai-coding-tool-as-chatgpts-inventor-looks-to-make-programmers-a-bit-more-nervous

16. "Customizing models for legal professionals | OpenAI," OpenAI, accessed May 9, 2025, https://openai.com/index/harvey/

17. "What a finish! Gemini 2.5 Pro just completed Pokémon Blue!," Sundar Pichai on Twitter, May 3, 2025, https://x.com/sundarpichai/status/1918455766542930004

18. "Google's Gemini Has Beaten Pokémon Blue, With a Little Help," TechCrunch, May 3, 2025, https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/03/googles-gemini-has-beaten-pokemon-blue-with-a-little-help