I recently attended a one-day Lawyers in Government Conference hosted by the Government Legal Network in Wellington. It was an action-packed day full of questions, debate and learnings. The panel discussion which most interlinked with our field was the session titled The Future is Now.

The Future is Now session was a panel discussion chaired by Edwin Lim, and the panellists included Graeme Osborne from the Department of Internal Affairs, Erica Lloyd from Callahan Innovation and Ben Bateman from the New Zealand Defence Force.

Police family harm app

Graeme Osborne explored the opportunities and risks of the public sector working in an increasingly digital world. Mr Osborne discussed how pivotal it was for the government to embrace technology, as not only do the public expect this from us, but it is key in order to do the job well.

New Zealand is one of the top five digital governments and there is a continuous need for agile improvement. The case study of a Police Family Harm app initiative illustrated how technology had helped frontline Police better respond to family harm incidents. The app is used to provide a more efficient reporting method for Police, and ensures staff have the information they need when heading to an incident. More information around the Police Family Harm app can be found here.

Sophia the robot

Erica Lloyd discussed how much we have to gain from the rapid advance of technology and the risk of standing still. The changes we are going to see from data, technology and science are unknown and exponential. In particular the reduction of manual tasks and what in our current world will soon become obsolete.

Ms Lloyd introduced us to Sophia (through a video clip) who is the lifelike robot developed by Hanson Robotics. Sophia has travelled around the world, including New Zealand. She has learnt about human emotions and in her own words wants to be a “smart, compassionate robot”. You can find out more about Sophia here.

Lethal Autonomous Weapons System

Ben Bateman spoke about how the information age is reinventing the human / machine interface. The military is applying a principled approach to the application of law across advanced technological systems and processes. Mr Bateman discussed how important it is for New Zealand to be involved in the international discourse to shape state norms and outlined the current discussions around the Lethal Autonomous Weapons System (LAWS).

Although not implemented in New Zealand, it is important that New Zealand engages, listens, clarifies and understands what other states are considering in the artificial intelligence sphere in order to respond. With systems such as LAWS, Mr Bateman emphasised the need for a person to still be in the loop of decision making and have meaningful human control. We need to be able to see the auditable reasoning. This raised an interesting discussion on the disadvantages of responding in a pre-programmed manner and how imperative transparency is for all artificial intelligence.  

Both Osborne and Bateman reminded attendees of the importance of appropriately considering privacy in developments of technology.

The Future is Now session reiterated the need for lawyers to be involved in the rapid use of artificial intelligence and digital technology, not only in the design but more importantly in ensuring compliance.

Image credit: Sophia by Hanson Robotics

law enforcement, biometrics