06.12.2022

Young Researchers' Forum on AI and Law - Promising research in cosy atmosphere

This Tuesday morning was dedicated to young researchers. In the format of a mini symposium, Florian Idelberger (European University Institute, Italy) and João Araújo Monteiro Neto (University of Fortaleza, Brazil) presented their latest work at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and law.

Prof. Stefan Thomas welcomed the audience, emphasizing the importance of emerging researchers’ work.

Florian Idelberger explained his attempt of using transfer learning models in order to predict court judgments in an EU context. Ultimately, in case of success, a T5 text-to-text model might be used to craft judgements and to check consistency, identity and tendencies of future judgements by comparing them to the crafted ones.
The speaker explained the choice of his model and also described the methodology he uses concerning data acquirement and the training process. The audience then weighed in, and several challenges of the research design were discussed.

Subsequently, João Araújo Monteiro Neto talked about the use of AI within the Brazilian court system as well as technical opportunities and theoretical challenges of the application.
In contrast to the German system, the Brazilian one already has implemented a lot of digital elements within their processes being part of the project Justice 4.0.
Hearings are recorded, the process is paperless. Moreover, authorized scholars and courts have easy access to loads of data facilitating the progressing integration of AI.

The mini symposium provided insights into most recent research activities in different parts of the world. The event underscored that the legal system faces similar challenges independent of the jurisdiction, which is why international research on the intersection between AI and law is so important.

Report: Alina Rehmann