The Use of AI in Canadian Courts

Abstract

Like many other fields, there has been growing discussion about the potential benefits of AI for the law. In light of the Federal Court’s interim principles and guidelines on the use of AI, this paper considers whether AI applications can assist the judiciary with its decision-making function. In doing so, it starts by considering the role that judges play in our legal system, finding that they are often called upon to consider and weigh information with human, emotional qualities and to assess the broader policy implications of their legal rulings. This paper concludes that the optimism of proponents of AI in the courtroom may be misplaced. The mathematical, mechanistic decision-making of AI applications does not replicate the kind of decisions judges are called upon to make. Moreover, it may be dangerous. Humans tend to defer to recommendations produced by algorithms, and AI applications are so complex that perhaps no one person—and certainly no one in the legal field—has the expertise necessary to understand how and why an AI application has reached a particular recommendation. Instead, the solution to lessening the burden on our legal system may be the more obvious, but less trendy question, of funding. More judges and more court staff may go much farther