Transcriptions of of court hearings and oral judgments and ‘knowledge retrieval assistant’ with access to more than 300 unstructured documents are among the case studies cited in the government’s plan to embed artificial intelligence throughout the justice system. The ‘AI action plan for justice’, published last week, aims to ’harness the power of AI to transform the public’s experience,’ Lord Timpson, minister for prisons, probations and reducing reoffending, said.
Embedding AI across the justice system is one of three strategic priorities of the plan, which also covers establishing a dedicared ‘Justice AI Unit’ and investing in staff and partnerships with ’legal serices providers and regulators to support AI driven legal innovation’.
The plan reveals that HM Courts and Tribunals Service has already piloted AI transcription of hearings and oral judgements in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber. ’The technology could speed up manual transcription, enable transcripts where none currently exist and improve public access to court proceedings,’ it states. ’Early findings have been encouraging, and HMCTS is continuing to explore options to expand this pilot subject to funding.’
The plan also cites the piloting of a ’generative AI knowledge retrieval assistant’ which answers staff questions by interrogating over 300 unstructured documents before returning a simple summary, accompanied by a citation to the source document. ’Evaluation showed court staff could access the information they need so they can digest key information more quickly, ultimately increasing the pace of case administration in the justice system. Following a successful pilot, we are now exploring ways to scale the solution.’
In a foreword, Lord Timpson (businessman James Timpson), the MoJ’s lead minister for AI, says: ’I am proud to represent a department that is fundamentally rethinking its use of technology to improve outcomes for the public and contribute to wider economic growth. I will continue to champion our ambition for the MoJ to lead the way in responsible and impactful AI adoption across government.’
The Law Society welcomed the plan. Ian Jeffery, chief executive, said: ’The new plan for justice highlights the opportunities AI offers to strengthen the legal system, but we must recognise the need to mitigate the risks too. The Law Society’s AI strategy has innovation, impact and integrity as key pillars to ensure technology is used in an ethical way to benefit the public and legal professionals alike.’
Jeffery reiterated the Society’s call for the government to create ’a free AI-powered tool to help people understand their legal issues and find the best way to address them’. This could work along similar lines to the online NHS 111 service, guiding people to support on legal problems such as divorce, employment, housing and wills, he said.
’AI has an important role to play in justice and the legal sector. It offers new opportunities that we must harness but also challenges that we must bravely address.’
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