Overview
Want to build AI that actually matters? AI for Legal Help is a two-quarter, hands-on course where law, design, computer science, and policy students team up with legal aid organizations and court self-help centers to take on one of the biggest challenges in tech today: using AI to expand access to justice.
You’ll work directly with real-world partners to uncover where AI could make legal services faster, more scalable, and more effective—while ensuring it’s safe, ethical, and grounded in the realities of public service. From mapping workflows to spotting opportunities, from creating benchmarks and datasets to designing AI “co-pilots” or system proposals, you’ll help shape the future of AI in the justice system.
Along the way, you’ll learn how to evaluate whether AI is the right fit for a task, design human–AI teams that work, build privacy-forward and trustworthy systems, and navigate the policy and change-management challenges of introducing AI into high-stakes environments.
By the end, your team will have produced a substantial, real-world deliverable—such as a UX research report, benchmark dataset, evaluation rubric, system design proposal, or prototype concept—giving you practical experience in public interest technology, AI system design, and leadership engagement. This is your chance to create AI that works for people, in practice, where it’s needed most.