Court adoption of AI is for efficiency, human touch still vital: CJ

The adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in courtrooms, such as for case management and legal research, would strictly be limited to streamlining efficiency instead of taking over judges' roles, says Chief Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh.

Despite the growing challenge of digital advancement in the legal world, he emphasised that the core of judicial decision-making would remain irreducibly human.

“AI can process vast amounts of legal data, identify patterns across thousands of cases, and flag relevant precedents speedily.

“Some fear that AI will replace judicial reasoning. I believe the opposite is true (that) AI will make human judicial wisdom more essential, not less.

“(This is because AI cannot) weigh the human factors that lie at the heart of judicial decision-making, which are the credibility of witnesses, the equitable considerations that justice demands, and the constitutional values that must guide our interpretation of law,” he said in delivering his opening speech at the Selangor Bar Conference 2025 today.

‘The law is not static’

Wan Ahmad Farid, in linking his speech to the conference theme “Res Nova”, which means ‘a new thing’ in Latin, acknowledges that AI application is one of the pressing challenges in the legal world.

The conference theme, he said, serves to remind the legal fraternity that the law is not a static monument to past wisdom, but a living system that must evolve to serve each generation’s needs while maintaining continuity with the enduring principles of justice.

However, among questions that legal practitioners must ponder now, he adds, is how they would ensure AI, among other technological tools, serves justice rather than substituting it.

“In times of rapid legal challenge, constitutional values provide our navigation system.

“The rule of law that underlies our entire legal system remains constant even as specific legal applications evolve. When we encounter res nova, these constitutional values guide our reasoning.

“Addressing res nova is not solely a judicial responsibility (but) it requires the entire legal profession working together,” he said. 

The two-day conference, scheduled for Oct 3 and 4, would see insightful discussions centred around several issues, including the adoption of AI, mediation, and family laws, featuring 20 speakers comprising judges and lawyers.

Also present at the event’s opening ceremony, held at Le Meridien Petaling Jaya hotel today, were Chief Judge of Malaya Hasnah Hashim, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Azizah Nawawi, and Court of Appeal president Abu Bakar Jais.

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