How to Use AI to Analyze and Review Contracts

Either of these works well for reviewing contracts:

Tool	Best for	How to access
Claude	Long documents, detailed analysis	claude.ai
ChatGPT	Quick answers, familiar interface	chatgpt.com

Recommendation: use Claude for long contracts (more than 10 pages). Its 200,000-token context window makes it ideal for lengthy documents.

Free plans have limits. For long contracts or many queries, you’ll need a paid plan (Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus, ~$20/mo). Confirm pricing on official pages: https://claude.ai/pricing and https://chatgpt.com/pricing.

Before copying or attaching the document:

1. If you have a PDF, open it and copy all text with Ctrl + A then Ctrl + C. If it’s scanned (an image), first use a free OCR tool like Adobe Acrobat Reader or ilovepdf.com to extract the text.
2. If you have a Word file, save it as text or copy the content directly.
3. If the contract is very long (more than 50 pages), split it into parts (clauses 1-20, 21-40, etc.) and analyze each part separately.

Claude accepts PDF files attached directly in chat. ChatGPT (with ChatGPT Plus) also accepts files. Verify this in the interface when you use it.

Open Claude or ChatGPT and paste this prompt (adjust it to your situation):

You are a legal assistant helping me understand contracts. I'm going to paste a contract below.

Please:
1. Summarize what the contract is about in 3-5 simple sentences.
2. List the 5 most important clauses I should know about.
3. Flag any risk points or unusual clauses I should review carefully.
4. Tell me what questions I should ask the other party before signing.

Explain everything in plain language, no legal jargon.

[PASTE CONTRACT TEXT HERE]

The AI will give you a clear summary, key points and alerts.

Once you have the summary, you can dive deeper. These prompts help:

Understanding a clause:

Explain the "early termination" clause in section 8 of the contract. What does it mean in practice?

Spotting traps:

Is there any clause in this contract that could put me at a disadvantage if there's a dispute? Explain which ones and why.

Comparing to standard:

Is this non-compete clause normal for an employment contract? Or is it more restrictive than usual?

Tip: keep the conversation in the same chat. The AI remembers the contract as long as you’re in the same session.

If you receive a revised version of a contract (the other party made changes), use this prompt:

I'm going to paste two versions of a contract. Compare them and tell me:
1. What changed between version 1 and version 2?
2. Did any change affect me negatively?
3. Is there anything they removed that should still be there?

VERSION 1:
[paste here]

VERSION 2:
[paste here]

If the documents are very long, compare section by section (for example, only the payment clauses first, then the duration ones, etc.).

• Be specific: tell the AI what type of contract it is and what your role is (tenant, contractor, employee, etc.).
• Ask for plain language: if the answer is technical, write “explain it to me like I’m 15 years old”.
• Don’t stop at the first answer: ask follow-up questions, request examples.
• Save the analysis: copy the AI’s response to a document before closing the chat.
• For contracts in another language: you can ask the AI to translate it first and then analyze it, or do both at once.

If you frequently work with similar contracts, consider creating a project in Claude with your context instructions already loaded. Learn more in the tutorial How to Use Claude Projects.

Problem	Fix
AI says the contract is too long	Split it into sections and analyze each one separately
The response is too generic	Add context: “it’s a lease agreement in Mexico, I’m the tenant”
It doesn’t understand the document format	Copy only plain text, without tables or special formatting
AI refuses to analyze the contract	Rephrase the prompt: “help me understand these legal paragraphs”