Artificial intelligence may partner with lawyers

After Eric Loomis was arrested in 2013 in the state of Wisconsin on five felony counts in a shooting case, he was tried and found guilty of two. For his sentencing, the judge took the unusual step of consulting a computer system called Compas. Compas was developed by Northpointe, a U.S. legal solution provider. It assesses the risk of a convict repeating his crime based on data-driven algorithms. Compas concluded that Loomis - a registered sexual offender - was at high risk of repeating his offense. The judge sentenced Loomis to six years in jail. Loomis appealed, arguing that the court had violated due process by using Compas. Last year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that use of an algorithmic assessment was not a violation of the defendant’s due process rights. The case demonstrated a convergence of information and communication technologies (ICT) with a legal system - a final call in a legal case was based on input from an artificially intelligent agent. “Advanced forms of the legal system are being adopted more and more by countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States with the rise of technologies such as artificial intelligence and algorithmic assessment,” said Rhim Young-yik, head of Intellicon Meta Lab, an AI research lab. The idea of artificial intelligence replacing a human judge completely still seems dangerous or at least highly premature. But the rise of legal technology, also known as “legal tech,” is stirring up controversy in the conservative legal industry both in Korea and abroad. What it promises is more affordable, transparent and advanced forms of legal services than those done by mere mortals.

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#innovation #Legaltech #disruption