World first as AI "Judge" succesfully predicts the outcomes of 79% of cases in the European Court

Artificial intelligence has a problem with nuance but that didn't stop it from correctly predicting the outcome of most of the cases An artificial intelligence system has correctly predicted the outcomes of hundreds of cases heard at the European Court of Human Rights, researchers have claimed and, what makes the announcement perhaps even more staggering is that it was right 79% of the time. While AI is increasingly being used in fields such as journalism, law and accountancy critics so far have said no AI would be able to understand the nuances of a legal case, but now, ironically, it might look as if their own case is being undermined. The study, which was conducted by researchers at University College London and the universities of Sheffield and Pennsylvania does not spell an end to lawyers – yet – but it does potentially set AI on the road to becoming judge, jury and, well, you know. "There is a lot of hype about AI but we don't see it replacing judges or lawyers any time soon. What we do think is they'd find it useful for rapidly identifying patterns in cases that lead to certain outcomes," said Dr Nikolaos Aletras, who led the study at UCL. "It could also be a valuable tool for highlighting which cases are most likely to be violations of the European Convention on Human Rights."