Judges vs AI: who will make decisions in the courts of the future?

The rapid development of artificial intelligence is already transforming approaches to the administration of justice around the world. How technology is helping to ease the burden on the courts and what challenges it presents were discussed during the fourth day of training for HACC judges at the National School of Judges of Ukraine. The highlight of the day was a lecture by Isabela Ferrari – a Brazilian federal judge and international expert in the field of digital justice.

A Brazilian judge, Master of Law and Doctor of Philosophy in Law (State University of Rio de Janeiro), a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School (2016–2017), and a member of working groups at UNESCO and the World Bank, presented her country’s experience, which is now considered one of the most illustrative examples of the implementation of artificial intelligence in the judicial system.

In her speech, she emphasised that the world is effectively on the brink of revolutionary changes affecting not only education but also the judicial system. According to her, technological development in this field can be compared to breakthroughs in China; however, due to limited access to information, most countries are focusing specifically on open models, particularly the Brazilian one.

Ferrari outlined in detail the context of Brazil’s judicial system, which currently has around 80 million cases pending – one of the highest figures in the world. By comparison, India has around 50 million such cases, despite having a larger population. As a result, Brazilian judges work under a significant workload, ruling on an average of nine cases daily and processing hundreds of documents.

It is precisely under such conditions that artificial intelligence has become not an innovation, but a necessity. Its active implementation began in 2019. The judge highlighted the existence of two main types of AI – predictive and generative.

Predictive artificial intelligence is already actively used in Brazil – over 140 systems help analyse large datasets, classify cases, identify relevant case law and even detect procedural violations. This significantly streamlines the work of judges and their assistants.

She paid particular attention to the ‘Victor’ system, which is used in the Brazilian Supreme Court. This tool analyses appeals and determines their significance for the development of case law. Whereas such work previously took up to 45 minutes, today the system performs it in a matter of seconds. At the same time, it does not replace the judge, but merely assists them, leaving the final decision to a human.

Alongside the advantages, I. Ferrari also outlined the key risks of using artificial intelligence. These include cybersecurity issues, the opacity of algorithms, and the potential bias of systems, which may reproduce social inequalities embedded in the source data.

Particular emphasis in the presentation was placed on generative artificial intelligence, which not only analyses but also creates new content. Unlike traditional search engines, it generates new texts and analytical conclusions, opening up fundamentally new possibilities – whilst simultaneously raising questions regarding the limits of its application in the justice system.

According to the judge, it is the development of generative AI that has called into question previous assumptions about the impossibility of replacing certain functions of a judge, as these systems are capable not only of reproducing past patterns but also of generating new solutions.

Isabela Ferrari’s presentation demonstrated that the digital transformation of the judicial system has already become a reality, rather than a distant prospect. Brazil’s experience shows that artificial intelligence can significantly improve the efficiency of the justice system; however, its implementation requires a clear ethical framework, oversight, and the preservation of the key role of humans. For Ukraine, this experience is not only a source of inspiration but also an important guide in building a modern, technologically advanced, and fair judicial system.

During the training day, the following speakers shared their experiences: Mykola Khavroniuk – Professor at the Department of Criminal and Criminal Procedural Law at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Director of Research Development and Board Member of the Centre for Political and Legal Reforms, Doctor of Law, Professor, and Honorary Lawyer of Ukraine, who addressed the topic of protecting victims’ rights and the confiscation of property and its various forms, as well as Georg-Friedrich Güntge – Senior Public Prosecutor and Permanent Deputy to the Attorney General of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein, who focused on sentencing in corruption cases, with particular regard to plea agreements and the application of pre-trial detention as a preventive measure in relevant criminal proceedings.

The speakers’ presentations can be accessed via the links (Isabella Ferrari, Mykola Khavroniuk1, Mykola Khavroniuk2, Georg-Friedrich Güntge).