A Literature Analysis of the Application of Artificial Intelligence in Judicial Adjudication

The progress of technology has a profound impact on the transformation of social life while judicial activities are no exception. In recent years, artificial intelligence such as big data, blockchains has widely applied to judicial process, which makes lawyers and judges see the advantages of higher efficiency. However, the application of artificial intelligence in legal practice has leads to some disputes such as the fairness of the judgment and the potential of violations of privacy. In this paper, research on the application of artificial intelligence in judicial adjudication was analyzed by the informetric method. About 1224 papers indexed in Thomson Reuter’s Web of science has been studied from the perspectives of keywords co-occurrence. The analysis of keywords co-occurrence shows the application of artificial intelligence in both procedural and substantial matters of judicial adjudication. Despite the convenience and high efficiency we have enjoyed during the process of judicial adjudication, we still need to consider ethics problems carefully such as the just, fairness, and transparency of AI technology. We found that these papers can be divided into three categories: The first is the application of AI in procedural matters or the process of judicial adjudication. The second is the application of AI in substantial matters or the decision-making and judgement of judicial adjudication. The third is the controversy of legal values beyond the practice of the application of AI in judicial adjudication.