Development of AI and other tech effects on the legal world

Development of AI and other tech effects on the legal world
                                 

                                                
  **Author - Debpratim Sarkar/Department of Law, University of Calcutta

Meaning

In today’s world, the world has become a global village in the sense that everything and everyone is being interconnected to each other. The special focus of this ever changing world is science and technology which we consider a way forward that will make living very different and less difficult. Technology is a byproduct of science itself i.e. because of development in science the tech field is also receiving a boost. Recently just after the pandemic, there has been a huge development in the field of new tech like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain technology, NFT etc. Out of all these new techs, our focus will be on AI which is receiving the most development, discussions, uses, etc.

AI-an overview

Artificial Intelligence or AI basically means a non-living thing in this case a virtual computer system having the ability to think. Thinking is something that is associated with living tangible things i.e. living beings like humans and animals. Science has given us the ability to produce/replicate thinking in computer systems and networks. AI as a technology has been hinted at for a long time since the development of digital computers back in the 1950s and so on when scientists and computer programmers could develop computer systems to play chess where rational thinking is required heavily doing task which is normally associated with human beings. But it is only recently that our AI has developed so much that it is able to overcome the need for human thinking and is now capable of generating passages, producing pictures through intelligence, and mimicking the sound of somebody or something through such intelligence which is more than what us humans can do by ourselves.

Bad effect of AI

In this article, we will focus on the effect that the development of AI has on the legal field. Through development of AI  makes living easier in the sense that you don’t need to spend hours on a work or project. But since the dawn of the 21st century scientists, computer specialists, and normal people alike have been talking about one major issue that’s how AI has the ability to strip people of their jobs and cause huge scale unemployment in the sense that if u have the AI which can think and make rational decisions and do jobs much faster and better then why not just it instead of hiring people to do the job who take money for job and will take much time in finishing a given work.
Already we are seeing that jobs like computer engineering and software engineering which are tech related and programming related are being replaced by AI. Tech companies are having massive amounts of layoffs because of the development of such a technology.

Effects of AI in the legal field
In the legal world, crucial data needs to be acquired, facts established, and unbiased judgements given. Law is a very complicated field with crucial implications for society, thus analyzing the effect of AI on the law we see that it can’t acquire the evidence which is done by police in criminal matters, it cannot acquire ground reality and facts from a case but it can do is having the input of the facts of the case and then decide on giving a judgement which is in accordance with the set rules and laws that have been fed to it or that it acquires from the internet. As we can see it is capable of giving judgements which may be totally through principles of justice as it ascertains the situation and decides by looking at previous precedents set on a case it isn't foolproof to say that advocates are never wrong but the decision taken by an AI although through thinking and rationality might not be accepted well or said to be discriminatory because it lacks emotions or understanding the feelings of a client or a person who is in a fight with. With this I mean that just casually feeding information to AI and getting a judgement pronounced should not be a future we look forward to, yes maybe some tasks like drafting documents, and affidavits can be done by AI totally because these are things that require a lot of time to make and many crucial days are wasted, by that delay can be easily countered AI can in future make documents a lot quicker. But it should not be relied on while giving judgements by judges, or assumption making in a case, or used as a tool for lawyers to get answers to a case. There are both upsides and downsides to AI in the legal world, I personally would say there should be a balanced structure so it should be used in cases of making documents and affidavits by giving the basic details, finding quick references to bare acts in a case by looking for key words these should be done. AI should facilitate rather than take over the legal world. We have to make sure that AI has certain limits in law and to ensure, that laws can be made that put restrictions and boundaries to the use of AI in the legal field without being totally arbitrary in the process. AI can also improve the quality and efficiency of legal services and increase access to justice for more people. However, AI also poses some challenges and ethical concerns for the legal profession, such as data privacy, intellectual property rights, accountability, and fairness. It shouldn’t be used as a tool for the prediction of litigation because should be done by legal professionals.

Pros of AI should also not be forgotten as it is a boon to development as a whole but it really depends on how we use it as humans

Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is creative and informative and can be used in important parts of the legal field AI can analyze large volumes of data, generate contracts, and perform legal research faster and more accurately than humans. Making documents, predictions sight precedents, and jurisdiction of courts in particular cases have downsides too. It ultimately depends on how we use it and how we as humans go forward with it. Creating a society where AI is a helper and not a decision maker is what we should aspire to have, it should be a helper and not a master which guides us in making judgements or predictions With growing technology there are sure to be huge changes in the profession and new professions created but this doesn’t mean it is for the bad it should be used in a judicious and moral way so that it doesn’t control or change who we are, courtrooms are sure to change in the future to already we are seeing lawyers with iPad’s and laptops in courtrooms to take help of citations, precedents and to get copies of the bare act. So technology in employment is a fact but it should be efficient and not adversely affect the jobs of already employees, it should always be treated as a side helping hand.