The Supreme Court highlighted digital transformation and AI integration at the 2025 Sejong International Judicial Conference recently.

The conference explored transformative approaches for building sustainable and accessible justice systems in the digital age, wherein participants engaged in dynamic panel discussions and interactive Q&A sessions, exchanging best practices and sharing current innovations aimed at advancing a people-centered justice system.

The Supreme Court (SC) of the Philippines was represented by Associate Justices Amy C. Lazaro-Javier and Jose Midas P. Marquez at the 2025 Sejong International Judicial Conference (Conference), held on 22–23 September 2025 at the Shilla Hotel, Seoul, South Korea.

Associate Justice Marquez, speaking on behalf of Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, delivered a lecture on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing efficiency and access to justice under the SC’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022–2027 (SPJI).

Hosted by the Supreme Court of Korea, the Conference brought together Chief Justices and legal professionals from Asia and the Pacific, the Americas, and Europe. Discussions were organized into four sessions:

1. The Rule of Law: Navigating Towards Sustainable Justice;

2. Justice for All: Pathways to Equal Access;

3. Justice in the Age of AI: When Law Meets Technology; and

4. The Role of Courts in Safeguarding Technology and Innovation.

Marquez spoke during the third session, representing the Chief Justice and highlighting the ongoing initiatives of the Court, such as the development of AI-driven legal research tools and chatbot agents that provide the public with instant access to legal information.

He also noted that the Philippine Judiciary has started pilot testing Scriptix, an AI-based voice-to-text transcription system, in trial courts. According to him, Scriptix has cut transcription time from two weeks to just three to four days, with an accuracy rate of 80–90%, depending on audio quality and content complexity.

Justice Marquez nonetheless emphasized the limits of technology and the primacy of human judgment: “Judgement and interpretation of the law remain a human function. AI is not, and must never be, the arbiter of human rights, freedoms, or dignity. On that score, let it be clear: AI may support justice, but it must never substitute human judgment.”

He also acknowledged potential risks in AI use, including biases from flawed or incomplete data, hallucinations, intellectual property concerns, inaccuracies, and confidentiality issues, and emphasized that AI’s lack of human empathy, contextual understanding, and ethical discretion underscores the need for careful oversight, ethical standards, and the importance of human judgment in legal processes.

To address these challenges, Justice Marquez shared that the Judiciary is developing ethical and operational guidelines rooted in Philippine legal traditions, social realities, and democratic values.

These guidelines will emphasize transparency, accountability, confidentiality, inclusion, and empowerment, ensuring that AI applications align with the values of justice.

Marquez underscored the vision of AI in the Judiciary as “augmented intelligence,” a force that supports human wisdom, magnifies the Judiciary’s capacity to serve, and brings justice closer to those who need it most: “We must envision a justice system where technology strengthens human judgment, not replaces it; where technology brings the law and justice closer to the people; and where technology amplifies the spirit and wisdom of the law and makes it more responsive, inclusive, and humane.”