Bogotá, Colombia — In a bustling judiciary where the backlog of cases often spells years of waiting for many citizens, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools is reshaping the landscape of Colombian justice. Enhanced by technology, Judge María Victoria Quiñones proudly reports a significant boost in her productivity, now capable of issuing up to 20 rulings weekly, a substantial leap from her previous four.
Daily, Quiñones employs an AI assistant named Copilot for various functions including transcriptions, summarizing hearings, and drafting judicial documents. Copilot assists further by refining grammar, comparing drafts, and managing the extensive internal data of past cases. “For us, this is magic… These tools have substantially optimized our judicial operations,” Quiñones remarks.
Colombia’s judiciary is pioneering AI in Latin America. Responding to pressing judicial delays, the country’s constitutional court passed a resolution in 2024 permitting judges to utilize AI tools under specific guidelines. Subsequently, rules were laid down to ensure judges meticulously review AI-generated material and openly acknowledge its use. The regulations explicitly forbid using free AI chatbots and employing AI in crucial legal reasoning tasks or final ruling formulations.
Virtual hearings have also surged in popularity. Initially a necessity due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, these have apparently settled into regular use, with 2024 seeing 1.1 million virtual hearings, nearly 80% of all hearings that year. Microsoft Teams was designated as the exclusive platform from October onwards.
As part of a beta program initiated last year, Copilot has been distributed to around 150 judiciary stakeholders comprising judges and clerks, as stated by Johanna Pimiento, head of digital transformation at Colombia’s judicial enforcement body. The catalyst behind this digital push is the daunting backlog – more than 2.5 million unresolved cases as of 2023 and an average caseload exceeding 800 cases per judge.
Colombia has nearly doubled its hearing volume over the past 14 years to nearly 1.4 million in 2024. According to Pimiento, the introduction of Copilot is poised to further enhance judicial productivity and efficacy.
While there exists some resistance to this digital transition, the majority of judges have recognized the payoff. This adoption facilitates a more manageable workload though challenges concerning proper training, data privacy, and data protection loom large. Confidence in Microsoft’s robust privacy policies and security commitments underpinned the judiciary’s decision to partner with the tech giant. Copilot operates on Microsoft Azure, ensuring data ownership resides with the users, who are shielded from third-party sharing or marketing exploitations.
The integration is endorsed by various legal professionals. Prominent Colombian attorney Roberto Serrato observes that the combination of AI and virtual hearings has halved the duration of judicial processes while fortifying the transparency and accountability of the judges and other legal officials.
Amid these advances, Quiñones reflects on her personal journey from a military school student and high-performance sprinter to a decision-maker in the judiciary. Her diverse experiences have imbued her with a relentless drive for efficiency and accountability — particularly towards vulnerable demographics.
Echoing sentiments from Gabriel García Márquez’s novella, Quiñones relates the sluggish pace of traditional judicial processes to the protagonist’s endless wait for government benefits, symbolizing the widespread delays in justice.
Quiñones, who takes pride in her proactive command of technology contrasting with stereotypical parental tech challenges, aspires to continue driving technological integration to ultimately serve the public better.
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