Summary
Professor Anselmo Reyes, an international arbitrator and legal expert, discusses the potential of AI in making legal services more accessible to underserved communities and identifies the kinds of legal cases where AI could be most beneficial. He notes that while AI works well for standardised legal matters like commercial cases and contract disputes, it faces limitations in areas requiring emotional intelligence or complex human judgment. Prof Reyes advocates for teaching law students to use AI critically as an assistive tool, emphasising that human oversight remains essential in legal decision making.
Takeaways
- Prof Reyes sees AI as a promising tool to make legal services more affordable and accessible to those who currently cannot afford traditional legal representation.
- However, he recognises a significant challenge which AI decisions can be skewed by biases in their training data, which often only become apparent after patterns emerge over time.
- Prof Reyes identifies that AI applications might work better in standardised, rule-based legal areas such as commercial cases, contract disputes, and small claims tribunal decisions.
- He observes that AI systems have limitations when it comes to nuanced fact-finding, particularly in cases with conflicting personal testimonies. This makes them less suitable for sensitive areas like family law and cases requiring emotional intelligence or complex human judgement.
- When it comes to legal education, Prof Reyes suggested a balanced approach. Rather than banning AI, he believes in teaching students to use it critically as an assistive tool, not a replacement for human legal reasoning.
- He emphasises that as this evolving technology continues to develop, maintaining strong human oversight and careful risk mitigation remains essential.
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