Artificial Intelligence integration in government and legal systems

The integration of artificial intelligence into public administration and the judiciary is transforming how states function and how justice is administered. While AI offers significant advantages in processing large volumes of data, reducing coordination costs, and automating routine tasks like legal research or document analysis, it presents profound ethical and structural challenges.

In the public sector, a distinction is being made between automating operations to increase efficiency and transferring authority to algorithms. While AI can streamline procedures, the core of political decision-making—such as determining resource distribution and rights—remains a non-technical, political responsibility that cannot be delegated to machines.

In the legal field, the use of AI raises concerns regarding legal certainty and professional responsibility. The potential for algorithms to generate plausible but inaccurate legal reasoning has already led to judicial scrutiny. For instance, the Spanish Supreme Court recently identified a procedural filing containing jurisprudential references that did not correspond to the actual content of the cited rulings, prompting a referral to the General Council of Spanish Lawyers to evaluate professional liability.