With AI’s evolution, we have seen it be integrated into almost every industry, including the judiciary, which is something personally that I never really saw happening. While it’s interesting in the sense that judges try to give an objective view of a case due to human emotion, stereotypes and social pressure, this can alter the way that some judges proceed with sentencing, which negatively impacts the whole prison system and how we view the law.
So when discussing artificial intelligence's role in replacing judges and writing judgments in public law cases, there are so many factors to consider, both for and against. It is crucial not to miss any considerations about AI’s future development and all the butterfly effects this development might have.
Just point blank, assuming that AI technology is for advocacy or judging in any general civil cases or high court cases and will be effective, unbiased and seamless isn’t something that should be agreed and I am excited to discuss exactly all the angles and if, how and why AI could optimally be the next judge in your case.
What Do You Mean By AI?
Artificial intelligence refers to a computer system that is supposed to both replicate, replace and, in some cases, imitate human cognitive processes, but with the removal of ‘human error, which could include efficiency, time, energy, steadiness, bias and other factors that are just innately human. These factors also include ‘machine learning', which is where all forms of data, algorithms, patterns and anything taught to the AI is analyzed and used to automate specific tasks.
AI systems, as briefly mentioned, are provided with a training set of data in order to identify any links, relationships or similarities between the data and the question. A good example could be through the art of fashion and trends. Providing AI with boatloads of data will help it establish any patterns or trends and analyze human behavior, giving it’s objective answer on what fashion items, whether they be gym leggings or handbags, are going to be the highlight of autumn and winter 2024. It’s the same with more professional backgrounds, especially in the world of healthcare, business opportunities, threats and so forth. AI can be a useful tool to help people make decisions, including establishing which key insurance company is right for them. The list of applications AI has is endless, but that doesn’t always mean it is accurate or useful information, as life itself is very unique, volatile and unpredictable in some cases.
AI has been seen to still be in its early stages. With current systems like Siri and IBM’s Watson, while they can be useful for things like general inquiries, they can’t hold normal human conversations and often get confused and put the conversation to an end, requiring human assistance. This highlights the clear difference between learning and understanding, leaving the question of how AI can take factors from a complicated legal case and give a reliable and objective verdict.
It’s also important to note that human language is a complex and forever evolving thing. There are things like tone, facial expressions, timings and slang that processes such as AI wouldn’t understand and in some cases, a lot of people don’t understand so it’s obvious that AI has not been able to distinguish literal from general, sarcasm and other things that we do and say in different cultures. Therefore, AI as a whole has not yet surpassed human decision making which makes the whole theory that AI could be your judge very intriguing.
Also Read: Artificial Intelligence Death Calculator
Could AI Be Your Judge?
There are always different sides to every case and that also includes the notion that AI could be the judge of peoples legal cases. It’s crazy to think that just as humans spend their whole lives researching, training, paying and everything else to be professional judges, a computer system could replace thousands of people’s jobs in a world admired for injustice and responsibility. In a way, it can take a lot of the pressure off individuals who don’t know what to believe or how long to give. So let’s get into it.
Work Alongside
Having said that, while AI is still in its early stages, it could be a very useful tool for those within the legal sector as a whole to adopt in their judiciary practices. For example, AI’s ability to analyze a whole load of information can make it easier for judges to see what an unbiased objective system thinks about it by asking if there are any clear links, cracks, or suspicious evidence that you might have missed.
Cases are extremely complicated sometimes so in terms of their application to large civil matters, it could be a huge help to alleviate some of the pressure.
Handle Small Cases
Some small cases tend to be a waste of time and very trivial matters, so with the evolution and developments that are expected in the future, it could be useful to implement and test their effectiveness in areas such as small claims court. While it’s difficult, individuals such as Judge Judy, famous for her series around small claims, are able to make judgments based on body language. Machine learning models have been able to automatically recognize places, objects and actions through live video, so it would be interesting to see if AI could recognize facial expressions and tone and essentially catch any lying like Judge Judy does.
How Will People React?
There are so many potential cause and effects from AI being the potential replacement from other people. Some individuals might see it as the ultimate fair case in the sense that stereotypes are removed when it comes to trailing so individuals from a minority won’t feel harshly sentenced based on their background or race.
While others might see this as a bad thing, sometimes human intuition is strong enough to understand another's intentions, whether they deserve a second chance, a reduced sentence or are a menace to society. There are so many unique things to humans that AI might not be quick enough to understand. Not to mention that AI analyses information and machine learning can pick upplaces and visual information it could always be manipulated so it’s still this huge grey area to consider.
