ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM- BITTERSWEET RELATION

IMAGE CREDIT- <forbes.com>

In the past thirty year or so. Artificial Intelligence has again gained momentum after its origin in 1955 and is proving to be a bliss in many fields like Healthcare, Automotive, Finance and Economics, Cyber security, Government, Video games, Military, Hospitality, Art, Advertising etc. Earlier, its use was mainly confined to Automotive and industrial sector and cyber security but now it is dominating every aspect of human life and judiciary is new area where applicability of artificial intelligence has started. However, not all jurists and legal experts agree about the positive impact it has on judicial system.

Earlier this year, Honorable Chief Justice of India SA Bobde stressed on the need for artificial intelligence in judiciary particularly in cases of repetitive nature, document management and decision making like rates of taxation etc. But these aren’t the only area of courts that artificial intelligence can be used. It can be apply on contract management. As per study conducted by researchers of University of Southern California, Duke Law and Stanford Law School, Artificial Intelligence type system “LawGeex” outperformed twenty imminent lawyers in finding flaws in various non-disclosure agreements which means it is capable of removing various human made legal resources[1].

In the ongoing pandemic situation which started spreading in January and by March forced almost all the entire world to a standstill and forced human race to go into lockdown including institutions like Judiciary where regular courts functioning remained suspended and in India, only very urgent matter are being allowed to be taken up by lawyers in court via video conferencing calls. The whole coronavirus has changed the entire litigation process right from filing suit to judgement being delivered by judges and AI is playing significant role in various judicial systems across the globe. For example, in Estonia, The Ministry of Justice asked Velsberg to design ‘robot judge’ to decide small claims disputes. Similarly, in USA,UK and India, stress has been given on limiting lawyers presence in courts and court hearings being done with done with the help of technology.[2] But there is flip side of relying on Artificial Intelligence. Firstly, too much reliance on AI may cost job cuts for lawyers especially in context of drafting contracts or agreements. Secondly, as AI is a program insert by human intelligence and is nothing more than machine language, it is not good to rely on AI to decide cases even those small claims dispute because not all judgements announce by judges based on legal principles and precedents, sometimes a judge delivers a judgement based on equity and social justice and AI is not equipped for that.  Thirdly, for all the existing use of AI in judicial system, it is not possible to hold AI accountable before court of law if there is an error of judgement. Clearly, there is a need for rules and regulations to hold AI accountable in court of law as it’s the humans who insert all the algorithms in machine system and thus human error is possible.

However, AI can be used in courts on daily basis to assist judges and lawyers on document management, to identify habitual offenders, repetition of suits on same ground between same parties so that courts useful time can be saved. A judge is regarded as God or higher decisive authority for a reason and that cannot be replaced by Artificial Intelligence.

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[1] <https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/digital-india/artificial-intelligence-in-judiciary-does-it-really-make-sense/73211365>

[2] <http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/use-of-artificial-intelligence-by-the-judiciary-in-the-face-of-covid-19/>