Washington Courts: Press Release Detail

Artificial Intelligence: Supreme Court symposium on May 10th examines whether bias can be built into technology used in justice system

The question of whether new technologies used for decision making can unintentionally promote bias in the courts will be explored at a symposium May 10th presented by the Washington Supreme Court Minority and Justice Commission to justices of the Supreme Court.

The symposium will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Temple of Justice in Olympia on the Capital Campus at 415 12th Ave. SW, Olympia, 98504. It will be broadcast and live-streamed by TVW and will be recorded for later viewing.

The symposium, titled “Artificial Intelligence: A Critical Review of its Use in Public Decision Making,” will include state and national experts exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in technology such as risk assessment tools used in courts and predictive policing used by law enforcement agencies. Questions to be explored include whether AI can be neutral or whether human choices drive it, whether it is compatible with fairness and justice, whether it can be sufficiently transparent and accountable, what privacy concerns exist, and the possible benefits and risks of using AI to determine just outcomes.

“We know that development of these technologies is not going away, but there are a lot of questions in the legal arena as to how this technology is developed and what the data is or isn’t; we have to ask who is responsible for oversight of these tools to ensure they are not extending bias in the system,” said Justice Mary Yu, co-chair of the Minority and Justice Commission. “We think it’s important to understand these tools use and to wrestle with these hard questions.”

“It is important to hear from experts on the critical issues related to artificial intelligence and its use in courts,” said Pierce County Superior Court Judge G. Helen Whitener, co-chair of the Commission. “What are the broader social implications? What are the next steps for its use in court proceedings? What is the risk of doing nothing?”

Speakers will include Shankar Narayan, the Technology and Liberty Project Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington; RC Carter, the Director of Strategic Projects for Microsoft; Professor Laura Moy, Executive Director of Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology; Logan Koepke, Senior Policy Analyst at Upturn who recently authored a research paper on use of pretrial risk assessments and predictive policing; and other national experts.

The Washington State Minority and Justice Commission was established by the state Supreme Court in 1990 to determine where racial and ethnic bias exists in the courts of Washington and to take creative steps to overcome and prevent them.

The Minority and Justice Commission’s annual symposium is delivered to the state Supreme Court and strives to examine significant justice issues through research, evidence, the voices of experts and of Washington residents affected by these issues. As a resource to help inform policy decisions, all symposium recordings and materials are preserved on the Minority and Justice Commission’s web site.

CONTACT: Cynthia Delostrinos, Administrative Manager for the Supreme Court Commissions, (360) 705-5327, Cynthia.Delostrinos@courts.wa.gov