Machine Learning and Law: An Overview

Abstract

Machine learning is an artificial intelligence (AI) approach that is widely used today for automation and prediction. This chapter explores machine learning’s nascent use within the legal domain.

The first section highlights the central principles of machine learning. The subsequent discussion considers the relationship between machine learning and law. Machine learning operates by identifying patterns in data, and many aspects of the law can be viewed in terms of data. Such data-oriented features of the law are amenable to machine learning methods.

This chapter then explores uses of machine learning technology in law, while recognizing both the technology’s capabilities and limits. It concludes by surveying some contemporary social controversies involving the use of machine learning in the legal context.

Keywords: law, machine-learning, artificial intelligence, AI