Will we control artificial intelligence or will it control us one day
Many of us have come across the words artificial intelligence in the past decade, and there have been many discussions if not debates about its role and importance in todays world. We are living in a world that is continuously making great progress in technology but to what extent will we let these advancements go before technology starts making intrusions rather than development in our working atmosphere and private life? Artificial intelligence as per say is the ability of machines to do tasks that would normally take human intelligence. The three processes artificial intelligence is known for doing are;
1. learning, the attainment of information,
2. reasoning, reaching definite conclusions and
3. self correction, correcting themselves instead of a teacher doing it.
But what does AI have to do with law? Law is a vast field, including many different areas of profession, each area suited for a different role. Can artificial intelligence be used in those areas? And is it the best way to go? Junior associates in law firms are known for doing large sums of due diligence, these include going over past relevant information, reviewing documents and doing legal research. Majority of preparation for cases is done through analyzing data, thus artificial intelligence is a great help, examples being in contract review and management. Companies like Kira systems, law geex and e bravis are already supplying resources regarding artificial intelligence to the legal world. The main job for AI in law research would be to automate routine tasks, manage and analyze large quantities of data, spot inconsistencies and find significant information. Most if not all of these tasks take up a large portion of a professionalsâ time and now with artificial intelligence it has become much easier. All in all, AI will make the life of a lawyer easier but will deprive him or her of experience, because even the most insignificant of these assignments play a significant role to further your knowledge of how law works, for the most part it trains you to be a better lawyer.
From the clientâs perspective AI brings a positive review. They prefer having new business models and the reshaping of the talent pool. Automation gives the basic information whereas the professionals can use the abstract thinking to use the information, the routine work being done by computer systems. But then again professions like law are central to society, your expertise define who you are and you need a basic degree and work experience to go up the ladder. Computerized systems are a great help, but to what extent are they flexible to the human thinking process and their needs for experience. One of the biggest advantages of AI in the legal world would be the algorithms used to predict outcomes of cases and prediction of useful strategies. However, law in continuously changing and will artificial intelligence be able to change with the law or will it remain undeveloped through out? Furthermore, the main concern for clients is data protection and cyber security. Sensitive information used in cases would be accessible to hackers through out the world. Will people be comfortable being honest with their lawyers if they know the system could be used against them by unethical means. Legally speaking would there be attorney client privilege if the entire history of research is open to malicious cyber attacks? Additionally, manipulation of data by illegal means would result in inaccurate and meaningless calculations making ai ineffective.
The other major part of law would be the courts and the judgements. Should artificial intelligence be able to make decisions on court cases? Can a computerized system take into account human sympathy, passion and equity? AI comes to definite conclusion of right and wrong, and in some situation the right choice isnât the moral choice. Would a society function if it were made up of definite set of rules? Would the law progress in any way? If we were to make a machine a judge wouldnât its decisions make up bad precedents for all of its future cases irrespective of circumstances. But should rules of society be exploited by human emotion rather than actual reasoning. Respectfully, judges have different perspectives of different cases and its conventional to say that lawyers play more on the judges than on the actual law, should that be okay in the legal system? The main argument of the role of artificial intelligence in the legal world, concentrating on judgments, would be if a computer is set enough to take into account different circumstances of each case and make decisions based on that particular case instead of using a general set of rule.
In my opinion the tech world has come a long way and it would be senseless to not use that to our advantage in the world of law. The efficiency would be much greater if most of our time wasnât used up finding relevant data, and that should be the basis of how we use artificial intelligence. There should be a defined line to what extent we use technology to enhance our lives. However, I donât think a computer has a mind explicit enough to make complicated decisions that donât only involve analytic aspect but take into account the human factor of law. By the human factor I mean the ability to feel, the ability to do what is better even if its isnât the right decision. The human mind is what created artificial intelligence and can just as easily exploit it and law should not be something to exploit but a direction towards a just and better society and if anything is hindering law from doing that even if it is technology it shouldnât be endorsed. Even if the respective entities of law do decide to introduce AI into law there should be strict rules and guidelines, which would increase the work for courts instead of reducing it. AI has great potential, if introduced with discretionary measures and as an investment for more justice for the common man.