UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

09/30/2024 | News release | Archived content

UNESCO hosts an exchange on AI-use in courts

UNESCO is engaged in promoting the ethical use of AI in judicial systems with an objective to promote a human-centered approach to AI systems.

The closed-door session moderated by Shashank Mohan, Associate Director for the Centre for Communication Governance of the National Law University (CCG-NLU), brought together legal practitioners and academic scholars to deliberate upon critical concerns vis-a-vis the use of AI in courts.

Through AI, we risk involving external technologies in critical decision-making processes where we need demarcations to be drawn to limit the influence of third parties in judicial outputs.

Viranjana Herath, Lawyer and Judicial Expert from Sri Lanka

The deliberations highlighted the urgent need to establish checks and balances that align with legal principles. The participants unanimously agreed with the guidelines in ensuring that human watchfulness is embraced in monitoring any AI oversight.

Courts should be even more careful in evaluating objective evidence through AI tools, remarked Shruti Narayan, Asia-Pacific Policy Counsel for Access Now, an international human rights organization with a digital issues. "While standards for evidence collection are clearly lacking, applying any new technology to material we gather can be very detrimental", the ex-Columbia Law School's LL.M. Public Interest fellow emphasized.

This subject matter is very interesting because AI is now the future of every field. In the context of the judicial system, human-touch should not be sidelined in the use of AI.

Mahesh Vaidya, Legal Advisor to the Indian State of Karnataka's Criminal Investigation Department

Why the Guidelines?

A 2023 UNESCO study revealed that only 9% of judicial operators had received training or access to any form of guidelines, despite a staggering 44% of respondents already using AI, particularly Generative AI chat-bots like ChatGPT, in work-related activities.

Considering this significant gap, UNESCO remain committed to the fundamental principles of justice and the rule of law has developed these guidelines are in line with the ethical, human-rights based approach to the use and governance of AI.

This consultation builds on a previous exchange between UNESCO and Nepali judicial actors which took place earlier in September 2024. Both sessions mark an important milestone for future partnerships between UNESCO and the legal society in the South Asian region, as well as for the guidelines which have now been reviewed by numerous global judicial actors. These guidelines will soon serve as a ready reference for the use of AI in courts and tribunals to improve legal effectiveness and efficiency.