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Digital Courtrooms To Global Justice: The Intersection Of Law, Language, And Ai-Powered Legal Translation In Accessing Challenges In A Digitalized World




Renuka Kalgaonkar & Krish Kaushal, B.B.A.LL.B. (Hons.), Symbiosis Law School, Pune


ABSTRACT


In multilingual jurisdictions, language barriers may act as hurdles to access to justice. AI, therefore, is integrated into the systems for efficiency in the judicial processes. Virtual courtrooms facilitated with AI legal translation tools provide for real-time interpretations of the proceedings. Existing research has not adequately considered the implications in the view of international human rights and coming regulatory laws such as EU AI Act, the GDPR, and UN Principles on AI Ethics. Consequently, this paper seeks to explore the capability of AI in overcoming the language barrier, identify biases that trigger the AI tools, and establish their compliance with the legal standards. This paper will employ a doctrinal research methodology and therefore conduct an assessment of case studies of the AI-assisted hearings from national and international Courts, tribunals, and immigration courts. Domestic law in this research compares compatibility of AI translation tools with fair trial and linguistic rights.


The preliminary results from this research make it evident that, although use of AI-assisted systems provides increased accessibility of legal information, translation of legal terms is a challenge from the perspective of variations in countries and cultural backgrounds. This is especially worsened by bias in algorithms against speakers from different language backgrounds. The challenges qualify the need for the adoption of models together with human supervision. This research is going to be significant in developing AI policies from the perspective of lawmakers, the judiciary, and AI systems developers alike. Though full of promise, challenges in standardization of AI policy, language inclusivity, and dynamically changing variations of AI also exist. This research is an attempt to give a new outlook into the debate on the necessity for ethics in AI policy, the use of international principles, and judicial fairness in AI-assisted legal translation systems.


Keywords: AI Translations, Accessibility of Justice, Algorithmic bias, Digital Courtrooms, Language Rights



Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research

Abbreviation: IJLLR

ISSN: 2582-8878

Website: www.ijllr.com

Accessibility: Open Access

License: Creative Commons 4.0

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Licensing: 

 

All research articles published in The Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research are fully open access. i.e. immediately freely available to read, download and share. Articles are published under the terms of a Creative Commons license which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

 

Disclaimer:

The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the IJLLR or its members. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the IJLLR.

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