China has developed mobile courts with artificial-intelligence judges and verdicts delivered through chat apps aiming to deal with backlogs in cases. Litigants appear by video chats as AI judge with avatar hears the cases. The country is urging digit...

China has developed mobile courts with artificial-intelligence judges and verdicts delivered through chat apps aiming to deal with backlogs in cases. Litigants appear by video chats as AI judge with avatar hears the cases. The country is urging digitization to streamline case-handling within its court system using cyberspace technologies such as blockchain and cloud computing, according to the Supreme People's Court in a policy paper. The paper was released in the first week of December as judicial authorities provided journalists a sneak peek of the country's first cyber court which was established in 2017 in Hangzhou city. Social media platform WeChat has reportedly handled over three million legal cases already or other judicial procedures since its launch in March.

The court was established in 2017 in the eastern city of Hangzhou to deal with legal disputes with a digital aspect. In a demonstration, authorities revealed how the Hangzhou Internet Court operates, featuring an online interface with litigants appearing by video chat as an AI judge – complete with on-screen avatar – prompts them to present their cases. A black-robed virtual judge sitting under China's national emblem was heard asking in a pre-trial meeting: "Does the defendant have any objection to the nature of the judicial blockchain evidence submitted by the plaintiff?" READ MORE: AI-manipulated media will be'WEAPONISED' to trick military