Artificial Intelligence and Justice: Opportunities and Risks

The article focuses on the possibility of using artificial intelligence technology in judicial activity and assesses the admissibility of granting artificial intelligence the powers of a judge from ethical and legal points of view.

Forecasting the possible prospects of development and the limits of the usage of artificial intelligence in justice, the author determines the risks that human might face in his willingness to empower artificial mind with humans’ rights and obligations.

The article analyzes the term “artificial intelligence” identified by several sources, considers its similarities and differences with human intelligence, and concludes that it is not and cannot be its analogue.

Marking the effectiveness of utilizing artificial intelligence in scientific, industrial, economic, and social activities, the author emphasizes the necessity of legal regulation of the directions of its development and spheres of application.

Polemicizing with a number of scientists who concede the potential possibility of granting artificial intelligence the powers of a judge, the author designates the intellectual qualities essential for a human to execute justice and generalizes that such qualities, which jointly identify the ethical principles of human relationships, cannot be possessed by artificial intelligence.

The article notes that the democratic basis of our country, stipulated by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, is a legal barrier to empowering artificial intelligence with the authority of government body.

At the same time, the author positively assesses the extending field of application of information technology in judicial procedure and in organizational support of court activity and concludes the possibility of performing by artificial intelligence some procedural functions, exercising some other application tasks in judicial activity except for the executive and administrative powers.