The Department of Justice (MOJ) has hired the AI chief executive as part of a three-year action plan to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) throughout the judicial system. The action plan includes the creation of Justice AI Unit, an interdisciplinary team that includes experts in AI, ethics, policy, design, operations and change management.
The plan includes ensuring a secure supply chain for AI software and a set of targeted data initiatives to improve quality, governance, interoperability and infrastructure. Among the key requirements is that each offender has a single consistent ID. This sees MOJ as important for making more detailed decisions on his journey of justice.
As an example of the work that has been done so far, MOJ said it is building a real-time system that connects offender data from different agencies. It is based on Splink, an open source data linking tool developed by MOJ data scientists. Splink applies explanatory machine learning to estimate records and ensure accuracy. According to the MOJ, this single view reduces the burden on managers, supports improved decision-making, and enables more advanced AI tools to enhance public safety and rehabilitation outcomes.
“We're excited to see the MOJ's AI initiative,” said James Timpson, heading MOJ's AI initiative.
MOJ has also established an AI steering group that brings together senior leaders from the Ministry of Justice, including Policy, Data, Digital, Security, People's, HM Prisons and Probation Services (HMCTS), Risks and Communications, to oversee AI initiatives and manage risks.
The Steering Group covers ethical, security and operational standards and also manages the department's AI risk register. in AI Action Plan for Justice Policy document, Timpson said the steering group will provide a regular forum to check progress and resolve issues.
The new ai hub, ai.justice.gov.uk, has been established to serve as a central point of engagement. This is used to provide regular updates on what MOJs see from an AI perspective, and what covers pilots and scaling. “We will open tools and solutions to promote reuse and collaboration when necessary,” he said.
In collaboration with the Alan-Turing Institute, MOJ has developed a publicly available framework for AI and data science ethics. It offers a “practical toolkit that guides developers, policy makers and decision makers from inception to deployment,” according to the policy paper.
The framework is built around five core principles: sustainability, accountability, equity, explanation, and data responsibility. “These principles underpin a broader approach to AI adoption, expanding the use of this framework to ensure that they are consistently applied by all internal teams working with AI,” the policy paper states.
MOJ said it has set privacy and security top priorities and is working with data protection and cybersecurity experts. It added that it continues to meet and exceeds legal and regulatory standards, including compliance with general data protection regulations, government security requirements, regular privacy audits, robust access controls, and staff training.
The MOJ said it has been working with the HM Ministry of Finance and the Department of Science Innovation and Technology on sustainable funding models that support the running costs of digital services over the years, recognizing that it must monitor, train and improve the AI model.
