COURTS in Sabah and Sarawak will be the first in the country to use artificial intelligence to help judges in drawing up their sentencing decisions.

Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak David Wong, who is the brain behind the initiative, said the app “is ready” and trials for it will start when it is launched next week, along with the ground rules for it and the opening of the legal year in Sabah and Sarawak.

Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who witnessed the launch and was given a demonstration of how the app works, said if new technology could help in the efficiency of passing judgment, she does not see a reason why the judiciary should not utilise it.

“But of course we cannot rely on technology 100%. There must be some human element as well,” the chief justice said.

Wong, in his address to mark the opening of the legal year, said the app is to help judges and magistrates in analysing the sentences passed to the accused.

He also said it is to help reduce the sentencing gap and ensure consistency in the sentences passed.

“Technology, being what it is, is forever changing and the judiciary of East Malaysia is aware of this fact. The emergence of AI in Industrial Revolution 4.0 cannot be ignored by both the judiciary and the legal profession.

“The legal profession, too, cannot ignore the emergence of AI. Ignoring is in fact not an option,” Wong said, adding that AI is no longer a matter in the future.

He said the courts will also disclose the algorithm with which the app operates.

Wong, who goes on mandatory retirement on February 20, said he could imagine a day “in the not too distant future that there will be kiosks in the lobby of the court premises for an accused and his lawyer to predict what kind of sentence the court may pass if he pleads guilty”.

Wong said there are already machines that could predict the outcome of legal disputes.

Explaining how the sentencing app works, Wong said judges merely need to key in all the judgments of the courts for the algorithm – a formula to analyse the dispute – of the app to provide a solution to the case.

The application, he added, is already in use in the United States and Australia.

“In the University of New South Wales, law students are required to learn technology and use them to solve problems in the delivery of legal services.

“In my mind there is no doubt that a lawyer with both technical and legal knowledge will be more marketable than one without technical.

“My advice to the legal profession is to start embracing the emergence of AI.” – January 17, 2020.