The use of Artificial Intelligence in Canadian Courts

Members of the media may directly contact : 

Karen Eltis  (English and French)

Full professor, Faculty of Law, Civil Law

Email: karen.eltis@uOttawa.ca
 

Professor Eltis can comment on this topic and especially on the efforts courts are making to modernize and the challenges they face in the process.
She is the author of Courts, Litigants, and the Digital Age, which examines the ramifications of technology for courts, judges and the administration of justice. 

"There are two possible problems that require our full attention when it comes to artificial intelligence and our legal system:

• The first is that our judicial system depends on private platforms, so there is a risk that our interactions with it will be mediated by commercial players. This could be problematic from the point of view of judicial independence.
• My second concern is that, in the name of efficiency, we are substituting a "poor man's justice" for access to fair procedural justice. Faced with such a brutal transition, we haven't really had time to reflect or assess whether we've gone from one extreme to the other. And if we have, what adjustments need to be made to ensure that we don't simply act for the sake of efficiency, but also to inspire confidence, particularly in an area as sensitive as justice".