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Redlining has long been one of the most judgment-heavy tasks in the contract workflow.
It has also been one of the slowest to see AI adoption as a result.
In fact, just 31 per cent of in-house lawyers reported using AI to redline a contract in the past year, making it the least adopted legal AI use case according to our research.
Why the hesitation? Because redlining isn’t just about marking up text. It involves context-rich decision-making: understanding fallback positions, assessing risk, weighing commercial implications, and navigating the often-subtle power dynamics between parties.
Today’s most advanced tools are starting to close the gap. By integrating directly into contract workflows, learning from historical negotiations, and applying your playbook logic in real time, these systems are transforming contract negotiation from a manual art into a repeatable, dynamic process.
What once lived in static PDFs and lawyers’ heads is now turning into contract negotiation playbooks and guardrails applied seamlessly by AI. To put it differently, the role of AI is evolving from passive reviewer to active negotiation assistant, and it's fundamentally changing the way lawyers agree.
In this guide, we’ll explore how modern legal AI is reshaping contract negotiation, what’s driving adoption, and how in-house teams can start building scalable redlining frameworks with technology that truly understands the deal.
What Is AI contract negotiation?
AI contract negotiation is the use of artificial intelligence to support or automate parts of the negotiation process. This includes reviewing terms, suggesting redlines, proposing fallback clauses, identifying risk, and even communicating changes to the counterparty.
Rather than replacing lawyers, the AI supports their team (and the wider business) to negotiate faster, reduce manual effort and make more consistent decisions, especially in high-volume or repeatable scenarios where default fallback positions are frequently used without further oversight from legal.
Can you use AI to negotiate contracts?
Yes. AI is already helping in-house legal teams negotiate contracts faster, more consistently and with greater control. In fact, some of the world’s largest companies with the biggest supply chains are already leveraging AI to negotiate their vendor agreements.
Although, there is the caveat that this AI negotiation still requires some oversight, similar to if you were to delegate this work to a more junior team member, or when encouraging commercial teams to self-serve using your existing playbooks. Jandré Bester explained this dynamic excellently on our recent webinar:
We're still quite conservative as lawyers. We don't just let the agent do its thing. We still maintain this within the legal team, but as a first line of review, and getting that first line in, it's really helpful. The team's very happy with what they've been getting back from Juro's AI" - Jandré Bester, Senior Legal Operations Manager at Luno
How is AI used in contract negotiations?
AI is reshaping how businesses approach negotiation by introducing intelligence, speed and consistency into a process that’s often manual and inconsistent. While the possibilities are broad, there are four core ways AI is being used in contract negotiation today, each adding slightly unique value.
1. Clause analysis and comparison
Before you negotiate, you need to understand what you're working with. AI accelerates this by scanning incoming contract terms, identifying non-standard language, and comparing clauses to your internal standards or past agreements. This isn't just about finding differences…it's about understanding and applying the context that accompanies these.
The right AI contract negotiation tools can:
- Flag risky or unusual language in seconds
- Identify commonly negotiated clauses that may need attention
- Recommend replacements based on previous negotiation outcomes
This helps legal and commercial teams focus their attention where it's most needed, rather than spending time reviewing routine sections.
2. Automated redlining
Once deviations are identified, some more advanced AI tools like contract review agents can go a step further by redlining the document for you. These redlines are based on your negotiation playbook, internal policies and in some cases, previous preferences. All of this context combined means your responses are consistent, compliant, and delivered quickly.
What this looks like in practice:
- AI suggests edits or deletions to clauses that don't meet your standards
- It proposes fallback language automatically
- Changes can often be reviewed and approved with a single click
This is particularly useful in high-volume contracting environments, like sales or procurement, where turnaround time is critical and legal teams need to aid with contracting at scale, even with limited headcount.
For example, Juro’s AI contract review agent helps you review and redline third-party contracts against your playbooks, directly from platforms you're already working from, like Slack or Word.
It flags risks, highlights deviations, and suggests fallback language with clear reasoning, so legal and business teams can work faster, where they already are.
To see it in action, hit the button below for your personalized demo.
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