How AI is entering the justice system
Courts are overloaded, skilled personnel are in short supply, and legal tech is on the rise. Brandenburg's Minister of Justice and Digitalisation, Dr B.Grimm, agrees – but draws clear boundaries
Dr Benjamin Grimm, Brandenburg's Minister of Justice and Digitalisation, emphasises the opportunities offered by AI in the justice sector in his keynote speech at SCCON 2025. Photo: Messe Berlin
In Germany, Dr Benjamin Grimm is the only minister who combines the topics of justice and digitalisation in one department. Estonia does the same, however – which is a good omen, said the Brandenburg minister, only half-jokingly, in his keynote speech at SCCON 2025. Grimm is a big proponent of legal tech, and the most important issue here is the use of artificial intelligence: ‘It's not a question of whether to do it, but how to do it,’ he emphasised. For the justice system, this would mean ‘huge efficiency gains,’ not least in view of the shortage of skilled workers.
A chatbot for magistrates
He can cite an example directly from his federal state: the ‘KAI’ project, short for ‘Königs Wusterhausen Artificial Intelligence’, which elicits a brief chuckle from the audience. But federalism is alive and well: the Königs Wusterhausen district court is responsible for all air passenger rights proceedings at the capital's BER airport, and the judges had approached the state with the project request, Grimm reported. After all, the opposing side is already working with AI. The result is a widely used chatbot that answers questions from trainee judges on the subject – from beginner's knowledge to in-depth information. To this end, the AI was trained with around 15,000 anonymised decisions from the district court.
Brandenburg is also participating in the MAKI joint project, which in future will assist in mass proceedings with the creation of texts and briefs, as well as with the processing of recurring procedural steps. In addition, the state has already introduced e-files in 90 per cent of its courts, Grimm reported. The roll-out should be complete by the end of the year. The e-file could be improved in terms of data structure, but it is the basis for everything that follows. The goal must be for AI to support all steps of the daily work of prosecutors, judges and court offices.
Tidying up procedural rules
To achieve this, procedural rules must also be revised and simplified, Grimm continued. The justice cloud, which the federal and state governments want to launch jointly, is essential and, with regard to cybersecurity, can only be successfully implemented through cooperation.
Despite all the possibilities offered by digitalisation and the use of AI in the justice system, one thing remains important: ‘Humans remain the central decision-makers and should not be pushed out of that role,’ Grimm emphasised. In court, people want to be seen as humans and should never feel like they are being dealt with by a robot. This is particularly true in criminal proceedings, where judges decide on people's lives and people are often ‘severely affected’. He therefore does not think it is a good idea to introduce AI into main proceedings at an early stage. ‘My approach would be to promote AI in other areas first,’ said Grimm. But there, things could move faster than they have done so far.