Robots Can Almost Replace Judges

Courtrooms could soon have robots as judges, after scientists managed to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) system capable of predicting verdicts with 79% accuracy. The artificially intelligent judges were able to look at legal evidence as well as consider ethical questions to decide how a case should be resolved. The algorithm looked at data sets of 584 cases relating to torture and degrading treatment, fair trials and privacy. The computer was able to look through that information and make its own decision – which lined up with those made by Europe’s most senior judges in almost every case. The researchers said that the computer judge wasn’t likely to take the place of judges any time soon. But it could be used to help them out – prioritizing cases that are important or nee dot be heard, for instance. Researchers said they don’t see AI replacing judges or lawyers, but they’d find it useful for rapidly identifying patterns in cases that lead to certain outcomes. It could also be a valuable tool for highlighting which cases are most likely to be violations of the European Convention on Human Rights. The researchers found that during the creation of the programme the judges of European Court of Human Rights tended to look more at non-legal factors than the strictly legal arguments made in the case. In law, that puts the judges in the camp of “realists” rather than “formalists” and fits with other courts like the US Supreme Court. The developers were able to use information like that to find that the court’s decisions relied largely on the kind of language used as well as what topics were mentioned in the court texts. Previous studies have predicted outcomes based on the nature of the crime, or the policy position of each judge. This is the first time judgments have been predicted using analysis of text prepared by the court.