UAE: Soon, AI could be judging crimes, analysing cases, says top official

Artificial intelligence could soon be judging crimes, according to a top UAE government official. The country's judicial body has already begun trialling a system that allows AI to decide on cases.

“There are cases right now where the outcome is very clear and no discretion is needed,” said Salem Ali Juma Al Zaabi, Head of Emergency, Crisis, and Disaster Prosecution at UAE Public Prosecution. “We have already started to implement and test using AI in these kind of crimes. In the justice sector, it is important not to act slow.”

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Al Zaabi was speaking at the 'AI Everything' summit that began in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. The summit, which takes place over three days, will examine the most compelling AI-powered applications driving transformation and impact across various sectors.

He also said that the technology was being widely used to help deliver justice swiftly. “In criminal cases, sometimes we have a lot of documents to read through and translate,” he said. “AI saves us much time and helps to accelerate the ease of justice by helping us to translate, summarise and analyse these documents quickly.”

Ethics

Despite ongoing trials, he said that for the timebeing the role of AI was largely as a tool to deliver justice and not for decision-making. “When you deal with crimes, there are emotions and discretion for the public prosecutor to decide,” he said. “Right now, we do use AI in our services but we have internal policies about where we use it, how to use it, and what kind of ethics we should have if we use AI in prosecution work.”

He also gave examples of how AI was used for prosecution during the pandemic and said despite all the technology, authorities keenly observe and take decisions on how to deal with violations. “We had cameras spotting people who were not wearing masks,” he said. “We collaborated with relevant entities to collect data and identify the person. We then considered whether the act can be considered for a fine and then the penalty was issued.”

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Nasreen Abdulla

Nasreen Abdulla is a Special Correspondent covering food, tech and human interest stories. When not challenged by deadlines, you’ll find her pulling off submissions on the jiu jitsu mats.