‘Artificial Justice’ Explores in Film Form if We Would Rather Be Judged by Other Humans or AI
Would you rather be judged in court by a human or by artificial intelligence? That was one key question in focus on Wednesday night at the Iberseries & Platino Industria conference and market in Madrid.
Platino Educa, the educational platform of the event, screened the new film Artificial Justice (Justicia Artificial) from Spain and Portugal. Written and directed by Simón Casal, it stars Verónica Echegui, Tamar Novas, Alba Galocha and Alberto Ammann.
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“In the near future, the government aims to replace judges with artificial intelligence software, pledging to effectively automate and depoliticize the justice system,” explains a synopsis. “Carmen Costa, a distinguished judge, has been invited to assess this new procedure. However, when the software’s creator is found dead, she realizes her life is in danger and that she will have to fight the powerful interests that are at play in the highest echelons of the state.”
The audience gave the movie a very positive reaction, judging by the applause that followed its screening.
Then it was time for producer Mariela Besuievsky, actor Ammann, Juan Fernández Tamames, attorney-secretary on the Criminal Compliance Committee of Telefonica, and Spanish Supreme Court Judge Antonio del Moral to answer questions and discuss the film’s implications for the current debate about the role of AI.
Casal started on the project around five years ago, as he was interested in the impact of big data and ChatGPT, Besuievsky told the audience. “He decided to focus on justice” for the film, also helped by the fact that his wife is a judge, she said, according to an English translation of the Spanish comments from all panelists provided at the event via headphones.
The backstory of Carmen and her life situation portrayed in the film was key to exploring the humans versus technology debate. “Through Carmen, we wanted to make it more human and personal,” the producer explained. “It is the human story of Carmen,” added Amann.
Besuievsky shared that at one stage of the development of the movie, she asked the creative team if they should also use AI in the film to further the key theme and conflict of the story. The reaction was clear. “There was a huge rebellion,” he said.
One interesting part of the storyline in the movie sees a character reveal that some of the key people behind the development of AI tools may be getting preferential treatment from them rather than the promised objective decision-making. “Are we going to have VIP codes?” Besuievsky summarized one possible future question related to AI. “That is scary.”
Discussing the moral question of artificial justice, del Moral told the panel that technology may be more accurate, but not always fair in a human sense. “Human justice is not perfect,” he said. “Algorithmic justice is a temptation, but it would make us … lose humanity.”
Adding that he at times felt reminded of Blade Runner, Tamames argued that the key focus for governments and industries will be to draw up safeguards and guidelines for the use of AI.
Ammann expressed some concern, wondering out loud if real life and the movie could maybe differ mainly in terms of the public being informed and getting a vote on AI in the film.
The actor also said that some of the futuristic seeming technology topics covered in films can turn out to become reality more quickly than expected. “In 2001: A Space Odyssey, I saw my first video call,” Ammann shared, “and I thought it would never happen. Now, we have that on all our cellphones.”
Earlier sessions on the second day of the fourth Iberseries featured the likes of Anonymous Content and Fremantle executives discussing their TV strategy and growing film business.
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