Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled courtrooms are indeed the future of Pakistan, but these do come with certain limitations. AI has brough digital transformation to courts of law around the world and is currently changing the legal landscape of Pakistan. This technology has brought in advanced databases of routine cases with novel practices of e-filing, e-evidence and eventually e-courts. These changes however, for Pakistan come with their own risk management assessments which are to be evaluated in great depth and detail.

Pakistan will lag in an overall implementation of rule of law if it does not work to fully equip its courts with AI enabled technology. Prime minister Shahbaz Sharif has launched a National AI Policy which is supplemented by Case Management System (CMS) which utilises AI driven platforms to formulate cause lists, case hearing schedules and court maps. However, the implementation of CMS is limited to High Courts of Lahore and Sindh only. There is a rapid increase in unreported sexual abuse cases in Pakistan. This is largely due to non -victim supported investigation which gives way to reluctance in reporting such cases.

An AI software can replace investigation officers for such cases, so the complainants will not have to deal with issues like victim blaming while recording their statements. Chatbot, which is an AI platform can also be used by the session courts in the country to expedite cases of less legal complexity. This is another solution to the case backlog in the country. Furthermore, this will also address the fact that in lower courts there is only 1 judge for around 62000 people.

AI driven courts can assist Judges, lawyers, paralegals and other legal professionals alike. Softwares like GeneiAI and Grammerly can be used to draft contracts and translate documents. Other AI tools like Westlaw, Chatbot and Casetext can provide legal review of thousands of documents within minutes thus saving lawyers hours of laborious work. These can also assist in answering legal questions helping practicing lawyers and law students alike. Courts in all levels of hierarchy can use AI to ascertain risks before releasing criminals on bail by drawing information from the AI managed criminal profiles of such offenders. AI predictions on related issues of recidivism scores can also help judges reach verdicts in such cases. AI can also be used to identify precedents from caselaw contained in bulky law digests and lengthy judgments.

Pakistan can bring in revolutionised e-courts where each step of a legal proceeding is done virtually ranging from e-filing, e-documentation and e-hearings to e-decisions.  AI can be employed throughout the entire process to assist lawyers and judges. This form of online dispute resolution (ODR) can save both time and money. A huge number of pages are used in the courts of Pakistan containing evidence, facts and the judgments of cases. AI-assisted ODR will not only reduce the costs of paper documentation, but it will also be a big step towards environment-friendly sustainable courts. Laptev & Feyzrakhmanova (2024) has demonstrated that countries like France and Canada are already employing AI courts to dispose matters of less legal complexity. A court in Hangzou, China displayed in 2019 how a case which would usually require 10 trials was delivered towards the decision stage in just a single trail. This court was AI-enabled.

Pakistan has already incorporated AI software into its legal framework although this is on a small scale. P.M Shahbaz’s recent AI policy is an example. Many lawyers are already using AI to research caselaw, DigiLawyer is AI based legal pilot widely used in this regard. Others are using AI assisted platforms to hold online meeting calls with clients. Federal Investigation Agency is working efficiently with its AI enabled cybercrime wing, which can directly be accessed online by aggrieved parties without disclosing their identities.

Pakistan police is working on similar lines by using Face Trace System (FTS) which uses AI to create a databank of around 18 million individuals. FTS is promptly helping police to trace criminals and perform their forensic DNA profiling. Also, a court in Phalia Punjab adjudicated that AI’s ChatGPT-4 had given a response of 90% similarity to its judgment in Muhammad Iqbal v Zayad. This shows that the country is bracing for employing AI capabilities to deliver cases that aren’t legally complex.

In a world where medicine, entertainment industry etc are taken over by AI, courtrooms are no exception. This, however, should not deviate the policy makers in Pakistan from its associated risks and limitations. If a global comparison is drawn, Pakistan still lands in nations with little technological innovations. This is leading to brain drain in the country where young, talented computer science enthusiasts are leaving the country for better opportunities. Slow and disrupted internet connections are cherry on top. With fewer tech developers, the country lacks the chances of efficiently enabled AI courts. A paramount deficiency of AI legal systems would be a lack of ethical and social considerations when giving out decisions because these are traits only ‘human’ judges can employ.

The information cut-off date for ChatGPT is September 2021, which means it can not assist on cases pertaining to events pre-2021. And most importantly, Pakistan still has no legal framework regulating AI, its domains in the legal sphere and mechanisms to counter cyber breaches from AI associated databases. Systems like OpenAI have political compasses based on human feedback. These when used in the legal domain may introduce political bias, while there is no room for such in a legal proceeding.

Professors from Harvard University Law Centre have confirmed that AI generated responses for legal questions were as good as those from a first-year law firm associate. Hence, AI is the future of those courtrooms dealing with less complex cases. It will expediate the process of decision making in legal scenarios of a simple kind. Costs will also be cut down. Other procedural requirements like record keeping and making of cause list can also be assisted or completely made by artificial intelligence. To do this, Pakistan needs to invest in AI research after formulating efficient policies governing this tech giant. Better programmers are also to be hired to build law-specific AI platforms. Shortcomings of internet connectivity must simultaneously be overcome. AI can not however, deliver legal decisions requiring human wisdom which encompasses socio-religious norms while adjudicating on complex legal questions.