AI in Trials: Toward a Smart and Humane Judiciary

Legal Basis and Current Implementation

The Digital Technology Industry Law (2025)—particularly Chapter IV on Artificial Intelligence—forms the key legal foundation for applying AI in judicial activities. It emphasizes that AI development must be human-centered, ethical, fair, and respectful of human rights. Supporting this direction are Resolution 27-NQ/TW (2022) on building a socialist rule-of-law state and the Digital Transformation Strategy for the People’s Courts (2025–2030), which stress reform through technology.

In practice, Vietnamese courts have begun digitizing case files, publishing judgments online, and testing machine learning tools to classify cases and search legal precedents. Natural language processing is used to extract data, generate statistical reports, and even draft preliminary versions of rulings. Similar to “AI judicial assistants” used in China, Estonia, and Singapore, these systems serve as virtual aides—but in Vietnam, AI remains at the support level, not yet making judicial decisions.

Legal Gaps and Challenges

Despite progress, Vietnam still lacks specific legal provisions governing AI use in judicial proceedings. This creates uncertainty in assigning legal responsibility, oversight mechanisms, and ethical standards.

Four major challenges have emerged:

1. Ensuring human rights and fair trials. Biased or incomplete training data can lead to wrongful outcomes. Litigants must know how AI analyzes evidence and on what criteria it makes recommendations.

2. Defining legal liability. Current laws do not clarify who is responsible if an AI-generated recommendation contributes to an incorrect judgment—the developer, the court, or the presiding judge.

3. Protecting personal data. Case files contain sensitive information, yet clear mechanisms for anonymization, encryption, and restricted use in judicial AI systems remain absent.

4. Setting boundaries between AI and humans. The law must affirm that AI serves only as an aid. The final decision must rest with the judge to preserve human ethics and public trust in justice.

Policy Directions and Legal Reforms

To ensure AI becomes a reliable judicial tool, several actions are necessary:

• Issue specific regulations on AI use in court procedures, defining scope, principles, and verification processes.

• Establish technical and ethical standards for AI in justice, ensuring accuracy, transparency, explainability, and data security.

• Train judicial staff, including judges and clerks, to understand and properly supervise AI tools rather than rely on them blindly.

• Pilot controlled AI applications in case classification, precedent search, and case progress prediction under strict supervision to assess practical risks before full deployment.

Toward a Modern and Humane Judiciary

AI can process vast data and generate quick insights, but only humans can interpret social context, empathy, and moral reasoning in legal decisions. AI must therefore be regarded as a “partner of justice,” not its replacement.

As Vietnam prepares to present the Artificial Intelligence Law to the National Assembly in late 2025, establishing a transparent, human-centered, and coherent legal framework is essential. Done right, AI will not erode public trust—it will strengthen it, transforming the courts into a smarter, fairer, and more accessible institution for all.