00:00The Chief Justice tells the media artificial intelligence will have a part to play in the courts of Trinidad and
00:06Tobago,
00:06but he assures the judiciary will not lose the human touch.
00:10That also formed part of my discussions with the judges when I was in the UK.
00:17And they are firm on it. They are not going to use AI in terms of their decision making.
00:23They are tasks for which it may be suitable and they are tasks for which it is completely not.
00:28Chief Justice Buda Singh spoke about the management of the use of AI during a media conference
00:34that focused on the priorities, the progress and the future of the judiciary in Trinidad and Tobago.
00:40People do not come for a robot to make a decision for them.
00:45They come for a judicial officer who has emotion, who has the ability to reason,
00:53who has empathy, who has compassion, who has understanding of human nature.
01:01All of those factors, those are the factors in judicial decision making
01:07that is absolutely critical for a human being to exercise.
01:13We can't firm those kinds of decisions up.
01:16During a media conference held at the judicial complex at the waterfront in Port of Spain,
01:20the Chief Justice spoke about guidelines for the use of AI recently established for local judicial officers.
01:27It's a practice direction, but it includes guidance for judges.
01:33Now, as a Chief Justice, I cannot tell judges how to decide their cases, right?
01:40Each judicial officer has to make those decisions.
01:45But we can have a policy about suggesting guidance about how AI should be used.
01:54Chief Justice Buda Singh, in speaking about his first year in office,
01:57said that the judiciary looked at practice directions for AI from all over the world.
02:02We tested what we had with people in the industry, in IT and so on, as to what should work.
02:12And what we came up with is a mechanism where this important tool,
02:19just like virtual hearings, just like our phones where we Google things and get information and so on,
02:28AI is a means by which a tool that can assist us with certain tasks.
02:35However, the Chief Justice made clear what the judiciary, under his leadership,
02:39will not accept in local court matters regarding the use of AI.
02:44So, it's a matter of balance.
02:46We have built in certain things in the practice direction.
02:50So, if, in certain circumstances, it could be a contempt of court for an attorney at law to use AI
02:57in a way not prescribed,
02:59it might be a matter that the court judge will say,
03:01I'm paying no regard to this application, or these submissions, I'm going to strike them out.
03:07So, that there are various consequences which are built in there.
03:11Some of them are consequences of honor.
03:13We expect that, as a team, we will be guided by the principles which the judiciary has set.
03:20The Chief Justice said that AI is an evolving technology,
03:24and if there is need for the judiciary to review its practice directions,
03:29six months or a year from now, it will do so.
03:33Julie Brown, TV6 News.
