IOI
We live in a fast-paced world where new technology provide us with massive amounts of information in nanoseconds. As a result, it’s not unexpected that we expect issues to be fixed immediately. Unfortunately, certain systems in our everyday lives have failed to keep up with these rapid changes, such as the court system, which is stuck in an earlier age.
The phrases ponderous, prejudiced, corrupt, costly, long, and so on spring to mind when thinking of the legal system. When we look at the situation of justice in our nation, it’s mind-boggling: India today has about 45 million pending cases in various courts.
Not only that, but the competency and/or skill of the judge hearing the case has a significant impact in the ultimate decision. Even their attitude might be a deciding factor at times. While there was little choice in the past, with the aid of technology, namely Artificial Intelligence (AI), we can now overcome these flaws and improve the efficiency of the justice delivery system. AI can assist in making judgments that are more transparent and much faster. AI might reduce the reliance on the talents, temperament, and integrity of attorneys and judges in the administration of justice.
China’s employment of AI in its court system is worth mentioning, even if it isn’t the ideal example when it comes to justice delivery. For example, AI is utilised in business conflicts such as product sales, e-commerce disputes, domain name disputes, and online copyright disputes.
In Hangzhou, eastern China, courts now handle over 10,000 cases in half the time it takes for typical hearings. Hangzhou had implemented the first AI-assisted justice delivery system in 2017 with very positive results; as a consequence, AI-assisted courts have been functioning 24 hours a day, seven days a week since then.
China is well ahead of India in terms of applying AI in courts and is well on its way to adopting smart justice. In courts around China, robots have been deployed to help retrieve case histories, previous rulings, and even specialise in commercial law or labour issues. Needless to say, all of this decreases the judges’ burden.
Cloud computing, neural networks, and machine learning are being employed to assist litigants and courts in quickly resolving disputes. In fact, the entire system is designed to create a technologically friendly legal system.
In India, the experimental stages take at least three to four years. This is something we cannot afford, especially as India strives for greater economic prosperity on the global stage. The time it takes to resolve business conflicts should be reduced to six months, if not three. This is what will bring more justice and purity to compliance.
COVID-19 has heightened the need for technology, with the Supreme Court holding some virtual hearings via video conference and announcing the creation of virtual courtrooms to reduce interruptions. As video conferencing, virtual reality studios, mobile app-based modules, and related technology evolve, the Supreme Court may decide to standardise them. Jurisdictions all around the globe are gradually using AI to improve quick access to case law to help judges, as well as assisting in labor-intensive duties like court transcriptions, albeit with human oversight.
The worldwide legal-tech market using Artificial Intelligence was worth $3,245 million in 2018, and is expected to increase to $37,858 million by 2026, with a forecasted compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 36% between 2019 and 2026.
For organisations with a customer interface, such as banks, technology-augmented solutions for distant dispute resolution, such as Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), have the potential to offer scalability and broad-based access. This has the ability to resolve localised issues, maybe even in distant regions of India.
The ODR might be a game changer in rural regions because it does not need the plaintiffs’ physical presence and eliminates the additional costs associated with court appearances. The moment has come for AI-driven solutions to make conflict resolution simpler. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) will aid in making the judicial process quicker, cheaper, and more predictable without jeopardising judges’ integrity or discretionary thinking.
AI would be used to create tools to aid court tasks, such as intelligent document assembling, case retrieval, discretionary decision-making support, and the development of new analytical tools for understanding and modelling the judicial process. AI decision support technologies are supposed to improve judicial practise by promoting consistency and efficiency and assisting in the delivery of logical judicial discretion. Other judicial jobs, such as preparing judicial papers, would benefit greatly from such technology’s flexibility, speed, and correctness.
The adoption of AI technologies comes at a time when judges are facing a tough position, with financial constraints on one hand and rising expectations for justice on the other. It’s also a moment when judges are scrambling to keep the quality of their decision-making process while working under time and resource constraints. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal system is necessary for the justice system to stay up with the times.
