How New York Is Ethically Leveraging AI in the Courtroom

Nov 8 / New York Law Journal
With 60% of cases now involving a mobile device, law enforcement and legal practitioners are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to help them manage and analyze digital evidence in an effort to improve efficiency and streamline investigations. Through initiatives like the Empire AI Consortium, designed to promote responsible AI research and development, create jobs and unlock opportunities focused on public good, the State of New York is positioning itself as a leader in such AI innovation.

Every digital device, whether a smartphone, tablet, wearable or even car infotainment system, can serve as a digital witness in the courtroom. However, legal teams must analyze and examine potentially thousands of pictures, messages and other data to "call" them successfully and defensibly. AI gives investigators the power to handle this high volume of data and identify key insights and evidence in only minutes.
But the benefits of AI go beyond the examiner– the technology also enables prosecutors to better understand evidence and present it clearly to juries.

The rising use of AI in New York is already impacting courtrooms across the state. For example, in Clinton County, the technology is being used to identify features such as the age of the victims in child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Because AI can only accelerate justice when used ethically, the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is continually evaluating the legal, societal and ethical impact of AI through its Task Force on Artificial Intelligence.

Nearly four decades ago, the introduction of DNA evidence was game-changing for investigations as it enabled prosecutors to use science to connect suspects to crime scenes in a way that juries could fully understand. Digital evidence then proved to be the next investigative frontier– with the ability to show data and timestamps that give juries an even deeper understanding of the who, what, when, where and sometimes why in the courtroom. Now AI-powered solutions are offering even more impact as they can reliably identify trends and key pieces of evidence from large volumes of data faster than any manual method, allowing prosecutors to paint a clearer picture for juries.

From assisting practitioners in uncovering crucial evidence in high-profile cases to solving complex investigations, AI is changing the digital investigative landscape. At first, most practitioners utilized AI capabilities to quickly search for and categorize evidence within databases. Since then, the technology has evolved to include more complex capabilities, including identifying image similarities and classifying video and text, which help investigators analyze communication patterns and pinpoint specific details, such as grooming behaviors in child exploitation cases or financial transactions that could suggest money laundering.

With people possessing more devices than ever before, AI helps aid investigators in swiftly uncovering connections within the digital footprints left on each device. For example, a contact related to one suspect could be connected to another person of interest. This complex web often leads to an entire criminal network. What originally would have taken hours or days for law enforcement to identify can now take mere minutes.

By decreasing the time needed to analyze evidence, AI helps alleviate case backlogs and saves legal teams resources. In cases like the 2015 prisoner escape at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, law enforcement had to review large volumes of evidence, including phone records, visitor logs and Facebook conversations – slowing the investigation and costing agencies large amounts of overtime pay. Here, AI could have not only increased investigation efficiency but also unlocked deeper insights to ensure key data and evidence were not missed.

The use of AI in the courtroom will continue to evolve with the growth of technologies such as generative AI and large language models. These solutions have the capability to assist practitioners with organizing and formatting information and creating reports and warrant templates.

When AI-powered solutions help to summarize text and suggest answers to questions throughout investigations, they diminish the time a human needs to spend on what would have been a manual task, ultimately expediting cases.

Recently we have seen the use of AI in high-profile cases, like the Oakland County, Michigan mass shooting. In this case, the prosecuting attorneys utilized AI-powered digital investigative solutions to analyze a high volume of digital evidence and create a timeline that directly linked the parents with evidence that supported their involuntary manslaughter charges. This led to the first successful prosecution of parents in connection to a school shooting.
As we look ahead, AI will likely continue to be used in difficult and complex cases such as CSAM, drug trafficking and other organized crime. In these instances, AI can support categorizing explicit evidence, protecting practitioners' mental well-being by reducing exposure to traumatic content.

The technology can also assist investigators in identifying victims in these cases, bringing closure to families. In many of these sensitive cases, the digital forensics teams have collected enough evidence to solve the case and initiate plea offers to avoid trial, saving victims from testifying, and prosecutors and law enforcement time.

There are actions legal teams can take now to ensure they're prepared to successfully leverage AI technology.
Stay Up to Date on the Latest Training Programs for Digital Forensics. Both law enforcement and those in the judicial system must get aligned on how the technology is both utilized and discussed when it comes to investigations. Most professionals in the legal system still lack a foundational understanding of AI and how it can be used ethically to both prosecute and exonerate.

Some of this is driven by a "Crime Scene Investigator" effect, with popular TV shows often exaggerating how technology like AI is used in investigations which creates a misunderstanding for both the public and practitioners.
To address this, organizations like the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York (DAASNY) hold training sessions and conferences to educate the industry on how to correctly and ethically leverage the technology. IACP's training programs range from deploying AI-based solutions while balancing new capabilities of risk to exploring how AI can enhance decision-making and revolutionize policing.

Additionally, DAASNY manages the New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) which provides continued legal education and mutual assistance to New York state prosecutors. The training institute utilizes its NYPTI Law app to share the latest legal decisions and new legislation, while the online programming includes trend reports, pretrial release data and a database that tracks all decisions from courtrooms across the state of New York.
While not all law enforcement agencies and legal practitioners have access to the same technology, they must still stay up to date with specific processes around how digital evidence can be secured. Attending conferences and trainings can help practitioners best understand these processes. In the coming weeks, the National District Attorneys Association and DAASNY will release best practices for ethical AI use, which should be used to further practitioners' understanding of how to best leverage this technology.

Balance AI Power with Human Oversight. In New York, AI has mainly been used in cases involving CSAM. The technology allows the New York State Police Computer Crimes Unit to access and categorize high volumes of digital evidence—whether it be images, videos or messages—and identify either the full identity or age of the child in the content. However, when using AI in these cases or others, it's critical that a human reviews and verifies any analysis AI creates before it's used in the courtroom.

Precision and Reliability – Choosing the Right AI Tool for the Courtroom. Finally, when selecting AI solutions, practitioners should look for those that meet the specific workflow and requirements of the digital forensics and investigations industries. These tools should be capable of automating investigators' tedious work while providing actionable insights to advance investigations. Additionally, with the rise in online child exploitation, law enforcement and practitioners should ensure they only deploy solutions that help to categorize this harmful content and reduce exposure for those reviewing evidence throughout the chain of custody.

AI's impact on the legal system has only just begun, but the technology has already improved processes for practitioners and law enforcement alike. As associations like the NYSBA continue to evaluate the ethical and legal impacts of AI, practitioners in the state must stay up to date on the latest trainings, balance AI with their oversight and choose the right AI solutions for their specific digital investigations. By understanding the best use cases for AI in the courtroom and creating ethical approaches, practitioners can present evidence more clearly to juries and accelerate justice for victims.