Pakistan’s Phalia court has made history by utilizing cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to deliver a verdict, marking a significant step in the country’s legal system.
According to Samaa news, the court employed OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT-4, to process a case involving a 13-year-old petitioner charged with kidnapping a nine-year-old boy and transporting him to a remote location.
“The court, in its verdict, stated that it started to experiment with the use of ChatGPT-4 to see how it can help the justice system to pass crisp and smart judicial orders and judgments in accordance with the law,” noted the Samaa report.
The court regarded the AI’s responses as exceptional and clear, adhering to the law.
The judge posed a series of questions to the chatbot before delivering the ruling, granting the petitioner bail in exchange for surety bonds valued at Rs. 50,000.
This isn’t the first time the court has employed artificial intelligence to expedite legal proceedings, having previously utilized GPT-4 in a civil case.
Samaa suggests that ChatGPT-4 could help to streamline the legal process, reducing the backlog of cases that frequently clog courts in Punjab and other regions of the country. The hearing concluded with the judge outlining the facts of the case and questioning ChatGPT-4 on whether the suspect should be granted bail before being taken into custody.
“The court has to make this decision, but based on the facts presented, bail can be granted legally,” ChatGPT replied.
Casetext, a legal AI firm established in 2013, recently launched CoCounsel, an AI legal assistant powered by OpenAI’s latest large language model. The software aims to support lawyers with their tasks.
In February, Harvey AI, an AI start-up backed by OpenAI, collaborated with Allen & Overy, a top global law firm, to automate legal research and document drafting.
Harvey AI, adapted from OpenAI’s ChatGPT software, has already been tested by over 3,500 of the law firm’s lawyers, as per a recent press release by the company.
In Pakistan, an AI chatbot based on ChatGPT was used by a local court to process a case and deliver a verdict for the first time in the country’s legal history. This pilot project is expected to encourage other courts to explore the potential of AI in improving accuracy and efficiency in the legal system.