Smarsh has launched a suite of artificial intelligence agents designed to streamline legal discovery and compliance processes. The move reflects a wider shift towards automation in compliance and legal functions, as firms look to deploy AI to cut costs and streamline operations.

The new tools aim to reduce the time and cost associated with investigations, which have traditionally required extensive manual review. Its Discovery Agent uses AI to identify relevant material early in a case, helping legal teams assess matters more quickly and potentially reduce reliance on external counsel.

Smarsh said organisations using the technology could cut investigation costs by up to 75%. The system can reconstruct timelines, identify key individuals, and analyse communication patterns across multiple languages within a single workflow.

The firm has also introduced an Intelligent Agent for ongoing compliance monitoring. The tool applies contextual filtering to reduce low-risk alerts, which the company said can cut review workloads by up to half. It also uses multilingual detection to help identify a greater proportion of potential risks in communications data.

The launch includes updates to the firm’s data infrastructure, including a new storage tier, CryoStore, aimed at supporting long-term data retention and improving access to historical records while preparing datasets for AI use.

Kim Crawford-Goodman, chief executive of Smarsh, said: “Compliance is entering a new era where communications data can no longer sit idly in the archives. Our customers are transforming their data into an actionable intelligence engine that accelerates investigations and drives faster decisions. We’re proud to stand at the forefront of this shift, providing the tools that transform regulatory burden into a strategic advantage.”

---