GEIS-新闻详情

Small Claims Tribunal to roll out AI program to guide users through legal processes

2023-09-27 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE - Imagine you bought a defective washing machine for $2,000 from an online shopping platform and want to file a claim against the supplier at the Small Claims Tribunal.

In about two years’ time, an artificial intelligence (AI) program will be able to advise you on your rights, guide you through the processes to undertake and even estimate how much you may be able to claim.

The Small Claims Tribunal sees about 10,000 cases a year, and currently, the applications are filed online through the Community Justice and Tribunals system.

The Singapore Courts signed a two-year memorandum of understanding with American legal AI start-up Harvey in August to develop a generative AI program for users of the Small Claims Tribunal, Justice Aedit Abdullah said at a media briefing at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Generative AI refers to deep learning algorithms, such as ChatGPT, that can generate high-quality text, images and other content based on the data they were trained on.

This is part of the Singapore Courts’ efforts to ensure access to justice – by providing readily available information and designing processes that are manageable to the ordinary man.

Lawyers are not allowed to represent parties in small claims consultations or hearings but information on the small claims process is available on the Singapore Courts website.

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“We can envisage that there might be members of the public who may not be able to navigate the Web materials because they don’t understand the work of the Small Claims Tribunal very well, or they have specific questions that they just can’t find the answer to.

“We hope with this, we can at least give (users) an overview of the process,” said Justice Abdullah.

The AI program will go one step further in helping users file their claims properly by autofilling forms with the information given, or point out areas where information is lacking.

Using the example of the malfunctioning washing machine, Justice Abdullah explained: “We want the program to ideally be able to say, if you want to proceed with the claim, it is important for you to have your receipt, some evidence of what went wrong, and evidence that (the defect) was not because of what you did.”

The High Court judge added that defendants should be able to share their side of the story as well.

It is hoped that the AI program will then be able to advise what the possible outcome and claim amount could be, and prompt the parties to reach a settlement or consider mediation.

The AI model will be trained on redacted case files and judgements released by the tribunal or magistrates.

“One of the things we will be really concerned about... (is) to ensure that there is no false information generated by the system. On top of that, we want to make sure that adequate protection is given to the information that might be uploaded or provided to the system,” said Justice Abdullah.

He added to ensure that those who are not tech-savvy will be able to tap the new program, the courts could explore having volunteers to guide them when the project is rolled out.

If the project succeeds, the AI model could be rolled out to other areas like civil claims and divorce maintenance.