March News Article
How can Artificial Intelligence be used to improve Pro Bono work?
Following government cuts to legal aid, it has become increasingly crucial to develop an impactful and innovative solution which prioritises an efficient use of resources in the pro bono world. How can we incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) to provide better pro bono support? Can advancing technologies be useful tools when responding to ethical, individual issues?
AI’s large pool of data must be employed in a clever way to tackle the high demand for pro bono representation and address the discrimination marginalised people face when accessing justice.
This article highlights two examples of how AI is being used to empower those in need of legal aid. Carry on reading to find out more!
The Launch of ChatGPT:
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot which was launched in 2022 by OpenAI. Its principal function is to mimic
a human conversationalist, aiming to provide a less robotic response by remembering previous
conversations and filtering for inappropriate requests.
This tool has been used to advance pro bono work by summarising and extracting relevant
information in complex legal documents, and translating this jargon into plain, understandable
English for those who have not received professional legal training.
This makes specialised forms much more user-friendly, supporting individuals or refugees who
struggle to understand the intricacies of the justice system. Quinten Steenhuis, who works in the
Legal Innovation and Technology Lab at Suffolk University Law School, is encouraging more firms to start adopting ChatGPT into their legal practice, advocating that the tool can facilitate a “grow bono” approach.
Justice Connect in Australia:
Justice Connect is an Australian legal services organisation and charity which is focused on incorporating AI technologies to respond to unmet legal needs.
The organisation is developing an automated language processor which can correctly diagnose legal problems from individuals who struggle to articulate these issues. Justice Connect is currently focusing on the collection of language samples from people from a range of backgrounds. These include those without tertiary qualifications, LGBTQIA+ people, those with disabilities and chronic illnesses and representatives of culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Justice Connect intends to make the AI tool an expert in understanding how marginalised groups use syntax, grammar and slang to describe legal problems. In this way, the automated language processor will help marginalised groups to overcome barriers to legal aid.
Justice Connect is interested in ethical and inclusive technology, focusing on eliminating bias in decision-making algorithms and ensuring that the AI tool has human rights incorporated into its design. The company is strongly aligned with the principles of the Australian Human Rights Commission. Justice Connect’s innovation is a brilliant example of how ethics and technology can come together to provide an effective solution to the gaps left by legal aid cuts.
To find out more, please check out the articles below:
https://justiceconnect.org.au/about/digital-innovation/our-artificial-intelligence-ai-project/
