The Russian federal government wants artificial intelligence to take over in some courtroom

In a new proposal to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the federal government’s Project Activities Department is suggesting reforms to Russia’s law enforcement system that would introduce artificial intelligence, according to documents obtained by the newspaper Kommersant.

The new technology would be used at three stages: first, to identify obsolete and ineffective legal norms; second, to create a database that brings together the publication of legislation, regulations, and legal information (modeled on France’s Légifrance); and third, to introduce an automated system to support legal rulings using artificial intelligence. The A.I. would supposedly be able to generate verdicts in “typical cases,” and it could be used to check other verdicts for errors and possible corruption.

Since 2006, the Russian government has operated the automated Pravosudie (Justice) system. In 2008, lawmakers required courts to publish the texts of their decisions online. To date, more than 40 million court rulings are now available on the Internet.