Communications of the ACM

I M A G E B Y A N D R E Y P O P O V

by a company called Northpointe Inc.

The algorithm indicated Loomis had “a high risk of violence, high risk of recidivism, [and] high pretrial risk.” This influenced the six-year sentence he received, though the sentencing judges were advised to take note of the algorithm’s limitations.

Criminal justice algorithms like the one in the Loomis case use personal data such as age, sex, and employment history to recommend sentencing, reports the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). The technology is relatively common in the U.S. legal system.

“Criminal justice algorithms are used across the country, but the specific tools differ by state or even county,” says EPIC.

The case for using AI-based systems to assist in the legal process hinges on the perceived ability of machines to be more impartial than humans. “Humans can be swayed by emotion. Humans can be convinced. Humans get tired or have a bad day,” says Tracy Greenwood, an expert in e-discovery, the process of using machines to per-

WHEN THE HEAD of the U.S. Supreme Court says artificial intel- ligence (AI) is having a significant impact
on how the legal system in this coun-
try works, you pay attention. That’s
exactly what happened when Chief
Justice John Roberts was asked the
following question:
“Can you foresee a day when smart
machines, driven with artificial intelli-
gences, will assist with courtroom fact-
finding or, more controversially even,
judicial decision-making?”
His answer startled the audience.

“It’s a day that’s here and it’s putting a significant strain on how the judiciary goes about doing things,” he said, as reported by The New York Times.

In the last decade, the field of AI has experienced a renaissance. The field was long in the grip of an “AI winter,” in which progress and funding dried up for decades, but technological breakthroughs in AI’s power and accuracy changed all that. Today, giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon rely on AI to power their current and future profit centers.

Yet AI isn’t just affecting tech giants and cutting-edge startups; it is transforming one of the oldest disciplines on the planet: the application of the law.

AI is already used to analyze documents and data during the legal discovery process, thanks to its ability to parse through millions of words faster (and more cheaply) than human beings. That alone could automate away or completely change the almost 300,000 paralegal and legal assistant jobs estimated to exist by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, that is just the beginning of AI’s potential impact; it also is being used today to influence the outcomes of actual cases.

In one high-profile 2017 case, a man named Eric Loomis was sentenced to six years in prison thanks, in part, to recommendations from AI algorithms.

The system analyzed data about Loomis and made sentencing recommendations to a human judge on the suggested length of Loomis’ sentence.

Make no mistake: AI-enhanced courtrooms may be more science fact than science fiction—for better or for worse.

The Predictable, Reliable Choice? Artificial intelligence holds some promise for the world of legal decisions.

In Canada, Randy Goebel, a professor in the computer science department of the University of Alberta working in conjunction with Japanese researchers, developed an algorithm that can pass the Japanese bar exam. Now, the team is working to develop AI that can “weigh contradicting legal evidence, rule on cases, and predict the outcomes of future trials,” according to Canadian broadcaster CBC. The goal is to use machines to help humans make better legal decisions.

This is already being attempted in U.S. courtrooms. In the Loomis case, AI was used to evaluate individual defendants. The algorithm used was created and built into software called Compas