AI initiative seeks to improve access to justice Law in Quebec

Nearly a decade after co-founding Cyberjustice Laboratory, a unique hub that analyses the impact of technologies on justice while developing concrete technological tools that are adapted to the reality of justice systems, Karim Benyekhlef and Fabien Gélinas have set their sights on artificial intelligence. The Autonomy through Cyberjustice Technologies (ACT), the latest brainchild of the Cyberjustice Laboratory, is the largest international multidisciplinary research initiative that seeks to leverage artificial intelligence to increase access to justice while providing justice stakeholders with a roadmap to help them develop technology that is better adapted to justice. "The main objective behind the initiative is to ensure that individuals know their rights, understand their legal situation regarding their problems and improve access to justice – and AI may help accomplish those goals," said Benyekhlef, the head of Cyberjustice Laboratory and a law professor at the Université de Montréal. "There's a good chance that our reflections and work on areas such as privacy, data management, data governance could easily be used in other realms such as in public administration. But we must be careful. We cannot play the sorcerer's apprentice. These are tools that are not yet mature. There's work to be done."