If there was one startup that was known for creating a FOMO among investors and especially in the legal sector that was Harvey. Just a few years ago, Harvey was an unknown entity in both the legal and AI worlds. Founded in 2022 by Winston Weinberg, a junior associate at O’Melveny, and Gabe Pereyra, a former DeepMind and Meta researcher, Harvey did not emerge from a well-known legal tech incubator or a major law firm’s innovation arm. Instead, it was an upstart, leveraging OpenAI’s GPT-3 technology to explore how AI could be applied to legal workflows.
The startup’s early days were marked by quiet experimentation. Weinberg and Pereyra initially tested their legal chatbot by pulling questions from Reddit. They then sent their prototype to OpenAI’s general counsel, understanding that a lawyer would best be able to judge the tool’s potential. This move led to a pivotal meeting with OpenAI’s leadership on July 4, 2022, and soon after, Harvey became one of the first recipients of investment from the OpenAI Startup Fund.
Despite this early validation, Harvey remained largely under the radar. Even within legal tech circles, few had heard of the company, and skepticism toward AI in legal practice was widespread. The perception of AI tools as unreliable, coupled with concerns about confidentiality and ethical risks, meant that Harvey had an uphill battle ahead.
