An AI predicted the outcome of over 75% of human rights trials

A team of researchers has used an artificial intelligence system to correctly predict the outcome of hundreds of human rights cases. The AI, developed in collaboration between University College London, the University of Sheffield and the University of Pennsylvania, analysed a variety of cases heard in the European Court of Human Rights. It was then able to predict the correct verdict with an accuracy of 79%. While the results make a convincing case for the use of machine learning in legal settings, the researchers don't believe it will mark the end of lawyers and judges. "There is a lot of hype about AI but we don't see it replacing judges or lawyers any time soon," said Dr Nikolaos Aletras, leader of the study at UCL. "What we do think is they'd find it useful for rapidly identifying patterns in cases that lead to certain outcomes."