KUCHING: The judiciary system for Sabah and Sarawak will further undergo an epic transformation with the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its sentencing processes.
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima David Wong Dak Wah said that the technology will help the judges and magistrates to conduct analysis on the appropriate sentences to be applied.
He mentioned that every time when the courthouse made ruling, there’s always complaints that there was disparity and inconsistency in sentences.
“So with this (AI sentencing) hopefully, it will resolve the issue of disparity as it contains compendium of award for damages or accident claims etc.
“For an example, if a plaintiff has lost a limb, the AI sentencing has the compendium or the guideline for the Session Court judges to award him or her within the range of appropriate compensation,” he said.
He said this to the media after the demonstration session of the AI technology being utilised for the ‘sentencing data’ which aims to enhance efficiency in the judiciary management system in Sabah and Sarawak.
On the utilisation of the system, he described it easy to learn as the judge only needs to type in the information of the offender, amount of drugs, victim’s impact statement etc before the system can process and analyse the information.
Asked on when the system can be fully operational, Wong said that it is ready but the judiciary fraternity is currently working on the ground rules expected to be “settled in a matter of weeks”.
“The way or how it works, will be informed to the lawyers and to the accused so that they will know in advance on the likely outcome of their cases.
“Then, it is up to them whether he or she wants to plead guilty or not guilty,” he added.
The AI technology is currently a pilot project conducted by the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak that started several months ago and consisted of history of cases registered throughout the two states from 2014 until last year.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Tan Sri Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat stated that since the technological advancement is now complementing the everyday life of humankind, the judiciary fraternity needs to move along with it.
“I do not see a reason why we should not embark on this but of course as we go along, the whole idea is that we cannot solely rely 100 percent on technology so there must be some human elements as well.
“We will continue to embark on the project and see how it needs to be improved,” she continued. Maimun said compared to the states in Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak are ahead in terms of advanced technology as the two states have started much earlier in 2007.
