The subject matter of the Conference was Judicial Independence and Democracy, Measuring Justice and the Rule of Law, the Role of the Judge in Jewish Law, Justice and Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Judicial Decisions and Amendments to the Mt Scopus International Standards of Judicial Independence, and the Bologna Milano Global Code of Judicial Ethics.

During the Conference First Vice-President Thomas, besides raising ELI’s relevant work, made a presentation on Artificial Intelligence and the Judiciary. He explained that, although digitalisation was making significant changes to the courts, it was unlikely that artificial intelligence would bring about further significant change in the immediate future. It was, however, important for judges and others to address the issues that would arise as artificial intelligence was developed. These issues included control of the use that might be made of data provided to the courts or during court sittings as a result of digitalisation and transparency in relation to algorithms that were being introduced in the criminal justice system to provide predictions for future behaviour of those convicted of a crime. One longer term issue that needed to be examined was the use of artificial intelligence to control judicial discretion and review judicial decisions. It was agreed that there would be further examination of this subject and steps would be taken to amend the Mt Scopus principles to give special attention to the use of artificial intelligence in the courts.