Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Legal Practice in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) a machine-based system used to ease the human workload, has been popular globally and its influence can be seen even in developing countries like Sri Lanka. Although it has dominated areas such as machine problem detecting, calculating and speech recognition, it is questionable whether this sophisticated technology can address the traditional roles of legal practice. The research aims to explore the positive and negative influence of AI in the legal field while determining the degree to which this technology should be incorporated into the legal sector in Sri Lanka. The research was carried out as a literature survey with a comparative analysis of other jurisdictions. Currently, many countries including the USA have used AI-based tools such as LawGeex, Ross Intelligence, eBrevia and Leverton in legal practice due to their e ciency, accuracy and ease of use. Findings revealed that AI can be used even in Sri Lanka for legal research, preliminary legal drafting and codification of law. But according to the prevailing economic and social background of Sri Lanka, it will be discriminatory to totally rely on an AI-induced legal system since it may create barriers to equal access to legal support for the common masses. Also, excessive dependency on AI will be a barrier to innovative legal actions such as public interest litigation since it would not assess the humanitarian aspect. Hence, it is concluded that AI should be used in Sri Lankan legal practice with limitations.