AI and Automated Decision-Making in the Civil/Administrative Justice System

Project Purpose

Governments around the world are developing AI and automated decision-making (ADM) systems to support all kinds of decisions that affect people’s lives, including benefits determinations; education; compliance with government regulations and licensing; child protection; immigration; facial recognition and surveillance technology; and policing, bail, and sentencing.

AI and ADM systems have the potential to transform government decision-making by improving the accuracy and consistency of decision-making and reducing backlogs. Notwithstanding this potential, government AI and ADM systems are controversial. There are many examples of government AI and ADM systems that have been biased, secretive, ineffective, and caused significant harms to individuals and communities.

The LCO’s Accountable AI report addresses key areas of AI regulation, AI litigation, human rights, administrative law, privacy, and civil procedure to determine if there are gaps or unanswered questions that must be addressed to ensure meaningful legal accountability for government AI systems.

Accountable AI includes 19 recommendations to promote “accountable AI.”  These include recommendations addressing biased government AI systems, “black-box” decision-making, and the need for public engagement. The LCO concludes that “accountable AI” depends on a mix of law reform tools and strategies, including front end regulation, substantive law reform, enhanced due process protections, and innovative initiatives to improve access to justice. The LCO has also concluded that many tools and strategies are available to policymakers today. Others will depend on policymakers and stakeholders coming together to address a complex series of legal accountability challenges that often combine legal and technical analysis.

This is the third major LCO report looking at AI and ADM in the Canadian justice system. The first report, The Rise and Fall of Algorithms in American Criminal Justice: Lessons for Canada (October 2020), provides an important first look at the potential use and regulation of AI and algorithms in Canadian criminal proceedings. The second report, Regulating AI: Critical Issues and Choices (April 2021), is a ground-breaking analysis of how to regulate AI and ADM systems used by governments and other public institutions.

An Executive Summary of the report is available.

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