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AI-driven ‘virtual lawyers’ to launch in UAE

By Chris Hamill-Stewart
virtual lawyer Gitex Dubai 2024 Citex
A visitor interacts with an exhibit at Gitex 2024 in Dubai, where it was announced that the UAE is to launch AI-powered virtual lawyers
  • A first for the region
  • Speed up simple cases
  • Assist with submitting documents

AI-powered “virtual lawyers” are to be launched in the UAE to help process simple cases.

The country’s Ministry of Justice said the aim of the project was to speed up legal proceedings for simple cases, with the AI lawyers assisting with entering pleas, submitting documents, and providing services such as text-to-speech, or helping lawyers interact directly with judges.

A trial will launch in 2025, it was announced at Gitex 2024, the annual computer expo in Dubai. 

The introduction of the Emirati virtual lawyer would be a first for the region.

It will draw upon a unified national database of legislative texts, which has yet to be created by the Ministry of Justice. Law firms wishing to use the database will also have to input information into it.

The virtual lawyer will operate within the UAE government’s cloud environment, to ensure cybersecurity and data protection. 

The UAE has said that as part of the country’s Digital Government 2025 Strategy, it aims to improve inclusion and bolster resilience in public services by digitalising them.

Observers say that as the UAE grows, and its private sector swells, there is a growing need for ways to smooth the litigation procedure, particularly when it comes to finance-related disputes.

Debt recovery cases in Dubai and the wider UAE, for example, are increasing, lawyers previously told AGBI, citing the influx into the Emirates of new businesses from around the world as the leading cause.

Artificial intelligence is already being widely used in the legal profession, for example to assist lawyers with timekeeping, drafting and managing contracts, and researching case law, but many believe AI has the potential to go much further. OpenAI’s GPT-4 is capable of passing the US bar exam, for example. 

However, there are risks, too. In 2023, a lawyer used Chat GPT-3 (an earlier iteration of OpenAI’s large language model chatbot) in a case in which the AI cited fake cases that were later presented in court.

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