SINGAPORE, Nov 7 — Artificial intelligence (AI) could one day reshape Singapore’s courts to the point where judges may not even need formal legal training, according to Aidan Xu, who leads transformation and innovation in the judiciary.
In an interview with CNA, Xu said advances in AI may eventually allow people from other professional backgrounds — such as counsellors or engineers — to serve as judges, with technology supplying the legal expertise.
“There is a strong likelihood that you won’t need a lawyer to be a judge,” he told the Singapore-based news outlet today, stressing that a fully AI judge or lawyer remains unlikely in the near future.
“The human element will be an important part of the role of a judge, in deciding cases, in deciding who to believe, in deciding what outcome should follow,” he was quoted as saying.
Singapore’s courts have in recent years rolled out several AI tools, including a summary generator developed with US start-up Harvey AI for Small Claims Tribunals and algorithms that predict outcomes in motor accident cases.
