China’s courts use data analytics and blockchain evidence storage on the way to first AI-integrated legal system
- Under the 14th five-year plan, Chinese courts will upgrade to the fourth generation of smart court by 2025
- Changes may appear to create a fairer system but they are also a step towards more centralised political power, say academics in the US
China is rolling out changes to monitor judges, streamline court procedures and boost judicial credibility that could result in the world’s first AI-integrated legal system.
The changes are part of China’s “smart court” initiative, a signature policy of SPC president Zhou Qiang, to strengthen centralised political power and tighten the oversight of judges, according to legal experts.
Smart court is a vague concept referring to a range of low to hi-tech measures, including making the filing of paperwork more efficient for court users and releasing court opinions online to more technologically advanced efforts such as algorithm analytics and AI-assisted decision-making in courtrooms by partnering with technology companies.
According to the SPC report, Chinese courts across the country have published more than 120 million court decisions to a database online since 2014 and more than 11 million trials have been broadcast online.
Along with improved transparency, courts in different parts of the country are also testing pilot projects under the smart court initiative, including admitting evidence electronically.
Between February and December last year, more than 7 million cases were filed online and more than 4 million cases were mediated online. Meanwhile, there were nearly 900,000 trials heard virtually in the same period, representing a huge seven-fold increase from the year before.
