Legal standards need to anticipate the consequences of artificial intelligence

What long seemed like fiction is now approaching reality. Artificial intelligence is getting closer and closer to the human capacity to recognize patterns and indicate trends. Artificial intelligence solutions, besides being innovative, surprise by presenting perspectives and answers based on thousands of data, structured or not. And what is most impressive is that this reality is in all segments, from finance to entertainment; from bioscience to sports.

In the legal environment, the movements to adapt to this new reality are already clear. Courts are beginning to think about how the use of artificial intelligence can facilitate and optimize their work. An example was Normative Instruction 6, of June 12, 2018, published by the STJ and which deals with procedural classification. It instituted the pilot project for the application of artificial intelligence solutions in the court's procedural flow. Among the initiatives developed and implemented by the courts in the country, some are systematized by the National Council of Justice for sharing with the entire system of the Judiciary. This action meets the guidelines set by Ordinance 25/2019, which established the Electronic Judicial Process Innovation Laboratory (Inova PJe) and the Center for Artificial Intelligence Applied to PJe.

However, despite being a reality in the most varied areas and with ample potential for overcoming problems, artificial intelligence still demands standardization, which we still do not have full control over. We know that computer programs work according to programming logic, where there is an input, a processing and an output. The output is the solution or the return of information. To make this understanding between man and machine possible, programming languages were created. Think of a programming language as the language we speak with the machine.

We are on the threshold of an era in which increasingly sophisticated robots, bots, androids, and other forms of artificial intelligence will promote a new industrial revolution. Therefore, it is of vital importance that the Legislature considers its legal and ethical implications and effects, without suppressing innovation. The fact is that we have been experiencing a great technological advance, where the development and adequacy of the current laws have not kept up with this progress. This is not an atypical situation. It is usually normal for technology to emerge first and then to be regulated.

However, what we envision here goes beyond pure applied technology. For its impact on people's lives is already and will be increasingly greater. Mainly in the substitution of the human act by the computerized act. Thus, one cannot wait for the consequences to define the rules. If for the first time the computer really comes close to intelligence, it will also be necessary that, for the first time, legal rules anticipate the consequences of the facts.