Written by Gregory Das, Chairperson of the Bar Council Publications Committee
The 37th LAWASIA Conference 2024 took place from 13 to 15 Oct 2024 at Hilton Kuala Lumpur.
The second plenary session of the 37th LAWASIA Conference 2024 was titled “Advancing Justice in the Digital World: Leveraging Technology, Tools, and Trust”. The session was moderated by Jerald Joseph, former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia Malaysia, “SUHAKAM”) and a current Director of Pusat KOMAS.
The first speaker of the plenary session was Adilah Junid, Director of Legal and Government Affairs for Microsoft in Malaysia and the Philippines. Adilah Junid referred to the prediction that artificial intelligence (“AI”) is likely to reinvent every industry, and that the legal industry is not likely to be spared of the impact of AI.
Adilah Junid added that AI could result in the increased efficiency and productivity in the legal profession. She referred to statistics that indicated that lawyers spend a substantial part of their work days responding to emails. The effective use of AI could lead to the reduction in time to perform such tasks, and also enable lawyers to focus on the central parts of their practices.
Adilah Junid concluded her paper by referring to the growing regulatory attention towards the use of AI in Malaysia. This increased regulation confirmed the heightened prominence of AI in this jurisdiction.
The next speaker of the plenary session was Gaythri Raman, Managing Director of LexisNexis Southeast Asia. Gayathri Raman began her paper by explaining the difference between extractive AI and generative AI, with a view of underscoring the fact that AI is presently in use by a large number of people. Extractive AI referred to AI that was based on existing data, which does not create new content. An example of an extractive AI system that is commonly in use is the Lexis Analytic online research platform. In contrast, generative AI is a system that generated new data and content. A widely known generative AI system was the ChatGPT software.
Gayathri Raman proceeded to emphasise the importance of a series of guardrails in place to ensure the accuracy of content generated by various AI systems. In this respect, reference was made to the concept of “hallucinations” in the sphere of AI. This was the notion of the generation of incorrect data by AI systems.
The final speaker of the session was Edmund Bon, head of the civil chambers at Amerbon, and also the Malaysian Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (“AICHR”). Edmund Bon’s paper addressed the manner in which AI could be utilised to enhance justice for marginalised groups in society — AI generated images had been submitted to fact finding tribunals convened to address matters concerning Rohingya refugees, and mapping images had been used to show the level of deforestation in Malaysia.
Edmund Bon concluded his presentation by referring to the “Global Digital Compact” that had been adopted by world leaders on 22 Sept 2024 under the auspices of the United Nations. Part of the “Global Digital Compact” obliged large technology companies and nation states to advance technology without infringing the human rights of persons.
The session concluded with a brief question and answer segment. To a question posed on the concerns of language and the development of AI, Adilah Junid opined that the base language for AI systems ought to be a commonly used language, and that other languages could thereafter be included in such AI systems in the production of data.