First AI Driven Lawyers and now AI JUDGES?
Greetings folks, Arabs being arabs whatever they put themselves in to... Now UAE is experimenting on use of ai to moderate court paperwork to "begin using artificial intelligence to help write its laws"
Yeah... Tell me its going to fail without telling me its going to fail..
So basically, "The Mighty", "The Home of High Tech" and "The Hivemind of IDIOTS" at UAE recently announced plans to use AI to help draft and update laws â a move Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum called a way to âaccelerate legislation by up to 70%.â On the surface, it sounds like the future of governance: fast, efficient, data-driven. But before you picture AI as the legal equivalent of Harvey Specter, drafting flawless laws with a snap of its fingers, letâs take a closer look.
Why AI in lawmaking is not just a cool tech upgrade
Laws arenât lines of code or simple contracts. Theyâre living frameworks shaped by human values, ethical debates, political horse-trading, and complex societal needs. AI, despite its strengths, faces big challenges here.
Bruce Schneier laid it out clearly:
âAI-generated law is not a first, and itâs not necessarily terrible, but itâs emblematic of a wider trend. The real danger isnât AI making mistakesâhumans do that tooâbut that AI gives those in power new, powerful tools to entrench their interests.â
Bias baked in. AI learns from existing data. If that data carries societal biases, AI replicates and amplifies them. Schneier points out, âAlgorithms are only as fair as the data we feed them.â This means AI could unknowingly draft laws that deepen inequality or marginalize vulnerable groups.
Opaque decision-making. AIâs inner workings are often a âblack box.â How it arrives at a suggestion or a draft isnât always clear. Schneier warns, âWhen we canât understand how a system makes decisions, we lose accountability.â Transparency is vital in lawmaking â people need to trust how laws come to be.
Oversimplification of complexity. AI reduces messy social realities to data points and patterns. But laws impact peopleâs lives in unpredictable, emotional, and nuanced ways. As Schneier puts it, âSecurity and privacy are social as well as technical problems, and algorithms donât always get the social context.â The same applies to law.
The accountability gap. Whoâs responsible if AI-crafted laws harm citizens? Unlike a human lawyer or legislator who can be held accountable, AI is a toolâno legal personhood. Schneier stresses the need for âclear accountability mechanisms before deploying AI in critical governance roles.â
A Side Story If You Will: The AI lawyer flop
There was that infamous case where an AI was used to draft legal contracts but ended up producing flawed, inconsistent documentsâmissing critical clauses and creating legal landmines. It was a stark reminder: AI can assist, but it canât replace human legal judgment anytime soon. The stakes in lawmaking are way too high for rookie mistakes.
The UAEâs AI law initiative: a double-edged sword?
Schneierâs full take highlights the UAEâs $3 billion plan to become an âAI-nativeâ government. Itâs ambitious and far-reaching. But, crucially, the UAE is a federation of monarchies with limited political rights and a history of centralized power.
âAIâs capability to write complex laws can be exploited to embed policy preferences subtly, carving out âmicrolegislationâ loopholes that favor the powerfulâsomething political scientist Amy McKay warns about.â
In other words, AI could become a sophisticated tool for power concentration, not democratization.
While speeding up lawmaking sounds great, Schneier cautions:
âDrafting isnât the bottleneck. Humans still need to debate, amend, and agree on laws. The political horse-trading doesnât get faster just because AI drafts faster.â
The hopeful side: AI for public engagement
AI can be a force for good in lawmaking if used to enhance transparency and public participation. Schneier points to experiments worldwideâlike in Kentucky, Massachusetts, France, and Taiwanâwhere AI-powered platforms help governments listen better to constituents and build more inclusive policies.
For the UAE, the challenge is clear:
âIf youâre building an AI-native government, do it to empower people, not just machines.â
Dont get me wrong AI is a powerful tool with enormous potentialâbut in lawmaking... itâs just that: a tool. Itâs not the final arbiter. Until AI can be made transparent, fair, and accountable, human judgment, empathy, and oversight remain irreplaceable.
Think of AI like the eager associate on a legal teamâgreat at research and support, but the partners (humans) must still make the tough calls. Skip that, and you risk creating a legal mess that no closer, even Harvey Specter or otherwise, can fix.
Bruce Schneier, AI-Generated Law â Full article (2025.05.15)
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/05/ai-generated-law.html
Amy McKay on Microlegislation (cited in Schneierâs article) â Political Science perspectives on AI and law loopholes (search scholarly articles or summaries)
UAEâs announcement of AI use in lawmaking (news coverage example)
https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/2025/04/15/uae-launches-ai-to-help-write-laws/
Ohio AI regulatory revision success story
https://www.governing.com/next/ohio-uses-ai-to-trim-unnecessary-laws.html