On Monday, April 15, Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Viktor Gorodovenko, Head of the Court's Secretariat Viktor Beschastnyi and employees of the structural units held a meeting with students of the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv who are actively engaged in studying the world experience of regulation and application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the activities of bodies of state power, in particular, in the course of judicial proceedings.
The key aspects of Opinion No. 26 “Moving forward: the use of assistive technologies in judicial proceedings”, adopted on December 1, 2023 by the Consultative Council of European Judges, were discussed and based on previous CCJE opinions, in particular the Magna Carta of Judges (2010) and CCJE Opinion No. 14 (2011) on Justice and Information Technologies (IT).
The participants of the meeting focused on the legal and ethical basis for the use of artificial intelligence technology in Ukrainian judicial proceedings in the context of this Opinion.
Viktor Gorodovenko drew the audience's attention to the specifics of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by judges, emphasising the key role of a judge and his or her personal responsibility in the case of using AI in their research or work, as well as the need for a judge to check the relevant legal positions and the inadmissibility of their automatic application. Therefore, according to him, it will still be a human being who will deliver important decisions and bear responsibility for them. He also noted that the use of artificial intelligence should be handled with great care to avoid institutional independence of the judiciary from the development companies that formulate the terms of reference for AI.
Viktor Gorodovenko emphasised that the use of technology entails a large amount of data processing, thus the key is to ensure human rights, including the right to personal data protection. According to the judge, the introduction of technological changes should be aimed at ensuring effective access to justice.
At the end of the meeting, the participants exchanged views on these issues and discussed ways of further cooperation in regulating the use of artificial intelligence, which will have a major impact on the judiciary and society in the coming years.
