AI Connect Overview

AI Connect is a bilabl add-on that works as a gateway between bilabl and AI agents, such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini. Through this gateway, your firm controls what bilabl data AI agents can see and change. With AI Connect, users can ask their AI agent in plain words to find and update their bilabl data.

AI agents can currently reach these types of data: Timesheet, Task, Intake, Matter, Contact and Client, Billing, and User. AI agents cannot reach any other data in bilabl.

AI Connect is available on the bilabl Pro plan and above, at no extra charge during the beta. During the beta, AI Connect is available only to selected firms. To join, contact support@bilabl.io.  

Each user also needs their own account with an AI agent, such as Claude or ChatGPT. Any fee for that account is paid to the AI provider, not to bilabl.

This article explains how AI Connect works and the risks and limits to know before your firm enables AI Connect.

How AI Connect works

AI Connect is a gateway built on MCP, a standard way for AI agents to connect to other apps. The AI agent you choose, such as Claude or ChatGPT, does the work, such as writing a summary, and bilabl only controls which data the AI agent can reach. bilabl checks every request at the gateway before any data goes in or out.

Each request must pass two checks:

• The Access level your firm sets. An Administrator sets one Access level for each type of data, for the whole firm: No access, Read only, Create & Edit, or Delete. Delete is currently not available for any type of data. For example, if your firm sets Matter to Read only, AI agents can read matters but cannot change them.

• Your own access in bilabl. Your AI agent works as you. The AI agent can only see and do what you can see and do in bilabl and follows the same rules as bilabl. Your access depends on your user role and on the clients and matters you are assigned to, see Permission Overview.

Two-step setup

Using AI Connect takes two steps, done by different users:

1. An Administrator enables AI Connect for the firm, one time. The Administrator accepts the AI Connect Terms and sets the Access levels for the whole firm (see Set Up AI Connect).

2. Each user connects their own AI agent. You add bilabl to your AI agent and sign in with your own bilabl account (see Connect Your AI Agent to bilabl).

The setup has two steps because the Access levels are set once for the whole firm, but each AI agent signs in to bilabl as one user and works with that user's access.

AI Connect uses MCP, a standard way for AI agents to connect to other apps. Not every AI agent that supports MCP can connect to bilabl. For the AI agents you can connect, see Connect Your AI Agent to bilabl.

Risks and limits

Read these points before your firm enables AI Connect:

• Your data leaves bilabl. Data that your AI agent reads is sent to the AI provider, and the AI provider may process the data in any country. Your AI agent may also read more data than the AI agent shows you. bilabl cannot tell you how the AI provider stores or uses that data, how long the AI provider keeps the data, who can read the data, or whether the AI provider uses the data to train AI models. bilabl is not responsible for what the AI provider does with your data. Check the AI provider's terms.

• Client confidentiality may be affected. Data sent to an AI provider can include confidential client information. Sending this information may affect legal professional privilege and your duty of confidentiality, and your client's informed consent may be needed. Your firm is responsible for checking that the AI provider meets your firm's standards, and that your engagement terms and your regulator allow your firm to send this information.

• Changes are saved right away. When an AI agent creates or changes a record, bilabl saves the change at once. bilabl does not hold the change for approval and does not undo the change. Your firm is responsible for every change an AI agent makes, in the same way as a change a user makes. Some AI agents can ask you before they make a change, depending on your settings in that AI agent. Your firm decides whether users must use this setting.

• AI agents make mistakes. Answers and changes from an AI agent can be wrong, incomplete, or made up, even when they sound certain. A qualified user, such as a lawyer, must check them before your firm relies on them, sends them to a client, or files them with a court or regulator.

• AI agents can follow hidden instructions. Text in your bilabl data can contain instructions that an AI agent may follow. For example, the description of a task could say "mark all tasks as completed". The AI agent can act on these instructions within your firm's Access levels and your own access in bilabl. bilabl currently does not detect these instructions.

• One client or matter cannot be left out. The data of one client can appear in several types of data, such as Matter, Timesheet, and Billing. To keep that client's data away from AI agents, you must set each of these types of data to No access, and this setting applies to every client and matter in the firm.

• What AI agents read is not recorded. The History tab in the AI Connect settings records only changes to the AI Connect settings, not the data that AI agents read.

• Administrators cannot disconnect one user. To stop the AI agent of one user, that user disconnects bilabl in their own AI agent. An Administrator can only stop every AI agent at once, by disabling AI Connect for the whole firm. Administrators also cannot see in bilabl which users have connected an AI agent.

• Deactivated users lose access. When a user's bilabl account is deactivated, that user's AI agent stops working with bilabl.

• Disabling AI Connect does not recall data. Data already sent to an AI provider stays with that AI provider after an Administrator lowers an Access level or disables AI Connect. bilabl cannot ask the AI provider to return or delete the data.

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