AI and Courts: An International Human Rights Perspective

Authors

• Veronika Fikfak
• Laurence R. Helfer, Duke Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Chapter of Book

Publication Date

2026

Keywords

artificial intelligence (AI) and human rights, automation, human rights, human rights adjudication, machine learning

Abstract

International human rights courts and treaty bodies are increasingly turning to automated decision-making (ADM) technologies to expedite and improve their review of individual complaints. These tribunals have yet to consider many of the legal, normative, and practical issues raised by the use of different types of automation technologies for these purposes. This chapter offers an initial assessment of the benefits and challenges of introducing ADM into international human rights adjudication. We weigh up the benefits of introducing these tools to improve international human rights adjudication – which include greater speed and efficiency in processing and sorting cases, identifying patterns in jurisprudence, and enabling judges and staff to focus on more complex responsibilities – against two types of cognitive biases – biases inherent in the datasets on which ADM is trained, and biases arising from interactions between humans and machines. We also introduce a framework for enhancing the accountability of ADM tools that mitigates the potential harms caused by automation technologies in this context.

Comments

© Cambridge University Press 2026. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution or re-use.

Citation

Veronika Fikfak & Laurence R. Helfer, AI and Courts: An International Human Rights Perspective, in The Cambridge Handbook of AI and Technologies in Court 389-402 (Monika Zalnieriute & Agne Limante eds., 2026)