[Law Newspaper] Rapid case law and data searching… A blow to the law clerk industry, Law firm Veat

[Law Times] Instantaneous Search of Cases and Materials … Impact on the Legal Staff Industry

Experts are racing to predict that the development of artificial intelligence will have a significant impact on the entire legal services market. While some believe that artificial intelligence may even replace the roles of judges and prosecutors, there are many who hold skeptical views. In particular, as artificial intelligence technology reaches the stage of recognizing its own existence, complex legal issues surrounding it are likely to arise.

◇Restructuring of Personnel Structure in the Legal Services Market= The development of artificial intelligence is expected to bring significant changes to lawyer’s work first. This is because artificial intelligence is expected to easily find case precedents and legal principles related to a case without much effort. As a result, legal secretaries and office managers who assist lawyers in law firms and legal offices may be impacted. There is also a high possibility that the position of lawyers will be significantly reduced if AI-integrated legal services become popular. This is because general citizens can also use this service to handle their own legal matters as well as experts. There is also an analysis that investigations involving the judiciary and prosecutors using AI systems will be divided into factual and legal judgments, requiring a completely new litigation strategy that is different from the present. In the investigation stage, artificial intelligence can collect evidence through drones and assist the prosecutor’s judgment through rational and scientific reasoning, and in the trial stage, it can also perform tasks such as determining whether the evidence for individual cases is consistent with the charges and deriving appropriate sentences. Kim Gyeong-hwan (47, 36th Judicial Training Institute) of Minhwa represents said, "Simple cases will be pre-judged by artificial intelligence, and judges will subsequently check the results, so the system may change," and "If there is an artificial intelligence that is very good at analysis, it could predict the approximate sentence and win or lose of a trial, so disputes may decrease."

◇“Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Legal Professionals?” Many Skeptical Views= There are differing opinions on whether artificial intelligence can ultimately replace judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, but there are more skeptical views. The argument is that artificial intelligence should only be used as a partial aid tool in the judicial system.

Goo Tae-eun (47, 24th) of Tech & Law represents said, "Unlike the game of Go, which is played according to rules and is thoroughly about winning and losing, social justice and legal policy are areas that machines cannot replace," arguing that “Sometimes, not following the rules of law is just.” He said, “The judicial system is about implementing a socially agreed-upon justice, and the concept of justice changes and evolves over time; if machines replace humans, the answers become fixed like a vending machine.” He added, “No matter how advanced and efficient artificial intelligence is, allowing artificial intelligence to make decisions about justice would be to make humans subordinate to robots.” A presiding judge in Seoul also said, “Since people make laws and people violate laws, artificial intelligence cannot replace judges to make judgments.” A prosecutor from the National Prosecutor's Office said, “The main task of investigation is to read the movements, tone, and emotional lines of the suspect to find the truth; it is absurd to have machines investigate people, given the controversy over human rights violations caused even by lie detectors.” An Ki-soon (46, 36th Judicial Training Institute), former representative of Law & Bee, said, "There may be various analysis attempts using big data for court documents, and the results may be a new challenge for judges, but whether people can trust the judgment of machines is a matter that requires social consensus apart from technological development," and "Ultimately, we need to further contemplate on 'the human itself' that machines cannot replace, and on 'the relationship between law and humans' to approach them more realistically and humanly."

◇Artificial Intelligence That Thinks for Itself... Could Also Cause Legal Disputes= Legal disputes could also increase with artificial intelligence. Until now, legal issues surrounding artificial intelligence have been limited to liability in cases where people have suffered damage from the actions made by artificial intelligence, such as accidents caused by autonomous driving cars, making it possible to hold software developers or vehicle owners accountable. However, if the era of “strong artificial intelligence” arrives, where machines become aware of themselves as artificial intelligence and make autonomous decisions, the legal disputes are likely to become even more complicated. Representative Kim said, "AlphaGo doesn't realize that it's artificial intelligence; it’s just a program and a tool for humans, but in 30 or 10 years, the situation will become complicated when the era comes when it realizes that it is artificial intelligence," and "When machines can think like humans and even make ethical judgments, we will need to decide whether to give them personality and whether to treat them as legally the same as humans." Choi Seong-ho (36, 42nd) of Veat represents said, "Existing legal regulations are all based on the premise that people meet people, but cases may arise where artificial intelligences meet each other," and "It will be difficult to grant them the same status as humans in such cases, but it may be necessary to recognize a similar level of status in some cases." In addition, it may also be an issue whether copyright is recognized when artificial intelligence engages in creative activities such as painting or writing, and who will be the copyright holder.