Currently, I am studying the ninth semester of my law degree, at the Faculty of Law, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), in some classes, academics and students, comment with more intrigue than certainty, what will happen? with Artificial Intelligence, (AI), in its application in various fields of legal science.
The exercise of the judicial function is definitively linked to the thought processes carried out by judges, justice officials, legal representatives, to resolve conflicts raised for their consideration; where evidence, jurisprudential facts, laws converge. Argumentation, debate, analysis, are characteristics of judicial operators.
An intelligent system in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one that simulates human behavior, so that the machine can replace the human in certain activities. The term “thinking”, a series of neuro-physiological phenomena, we cannot yet find in any machine. They only simulate thought processes.
There are currently a good number of legal document retrieval systems, one of them is the ius of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), in terms of the jurisprudential order. Other database systems, for example, the UNAM Legal Research Institute, where you can access the collection of books, magazines, articles, it is also possible to consult federal and state laws, as well as jurisprudence. More legal systems are the portal of www.diputados.gobn.mx, the diary of debatesor the Official Journal of the Federation.
Currently, Legal Expert Systems (SEJ’S), also called knowledge-based Legal Systems, are the main application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the field of law and are helpful in judicial decision-making. It is about supporting legal operators, in the context of legal advice, jurisdictional function, facing various converging problems, with different solutions in each case; applying the opinion of experts in the field.
The SEJs are not data warehouses, as the Doctor of Law, Carolina Martínez, an expert on this subject, explains:
“The Sej’s try to emulate the cognitive processes carried out by legal operators (lawyers, judges, etc.) who, guided by the rules of information processing of the legal profession, manipulate the aforementioned speeches, to solve the problems that raises its interpretation and/or application when confronted with practical cases in the exercise of their profession”.
Knowledge engineering is what defines so many legal issues and problems you can face in SEJ’s, the basis of your knowledge your worth; and its efficiency will depend on whether it is based on the norm or on cognitive processes.
The problem for the creators of this type of knowledge system is that when the norms are changed, the entire database has to be changed, so in countries like ours, which reform norms and laws every week and propose changes every six-year term. to the constitutional text, since this type of system would always be in constant change; It would be the neverending story.
In my next article we will talk more about this topic and how, in my personal opinion, there are subjects, sciences, such as law, medicine, where Artificial Intelligence (AI) will support, change processes, but will not replace humanity, presence, the experience, the thought of an excellent lawyer or a jurist. However, as we have seen, technology can always surprise us.