Estonia is designing a "robot judge" to help clear backlog of cases

The Estonian Ministry of Justice has officially asked Ott Velsberg, the country's chief data officer, to design a "robot judge" to take care of a backlog of small claims court disputes, Wired reports. The artificial intelligence-powered "judge" is supposed to analyze legal documents and other relevant information and come to a decision. Though a human judge will have an opportunity to revise those decisions, the project is a striking example of justice by artificial intelligence. Estonia, a tiny Northern European nation of fewer than 1.4 million inhabitants, has made impressive strides in digitizing, streamlining, and modernizing its government functions. Estonia famously launched its "e-residency" program that allows practically anybody -- including foreigners -- to access Estonian government services.