Brazilian Government Partners with OpenAI to Cut Court Costs with AI

The Government of Brazil is enlisting OpenAI to streamline and expedite the screening and analysis of lawsuits using AI. This move is an attempt to avoid costly court losses that have been weighing on the federal budget.

The AI service will alert the government to the needful addressing of lawsuits before final decisions are made, identifying trends and potential areas of action for the solicitor general's office (AGU).

Reportedly, Microsoft would provide the artificial intelligence services from OpenAI through its Azure cloud computing platform. However, there is no information on how much Brazil would pay for the services.

Court-ordered debt payments have taken up a growing share of Brazil's federal budget. The government estimated spending 70.7 billion reais ($13.2 billion) next year on judicial decisions where it can no longer appeal. The figure excludes small-value claims, which historically amount to approximately 30 billion reais annually.

The combined amount for judicial decisions and small-value claims of over 100 billion reais projects a sharp increase from 37.3 billion reais in 2015. A Reuter report states that it is equivalent to about 1% of gross domestic product, or 15% more than what the government expects to spend on unemployment insurance and wage bonuses for low-income workers next year.

Addressing a valid concern, AGU said the AI project would not replace the work of its members and employees. "It will help them gain efficiency and accuracy, with all activities fully supervised by humans," it said.