Brazil partners with OpenAI to modernise legal processes and cut court costs
The government anticipates that AI will be crucial in managing and analysing lawsuits more efficiently, alerting them to potential actions before final decisions are made, thereby mitigating significant financial losses.
Brazil’s government has enlisted OpenAI’s services to streamline the assessment of thousands of lawsuits using AI, aiming to mitigate costly court losses that have burdened the federal budget. Through Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing platform, OpenAI’s AI technology, including ChatGPT, will identify lawsuits requiring prompt government action and analyse trends and potential focus areas for the solicitor general’s office (AGU).
The AGU revealed that Microsoft would facilitate the AI services from OpenAI, though the exact cost of Brazil’s procurement remains undisclosed. The initiative responds to the escalating financial strain caused by court-ordered debt payments, which are anticipated to reach 70.7 billion reais ($13.2 billion) next year, excluding smaller claims. The surge from 37.3 billion reais in 2015, equivalent to about 1% of GDP, surpasses government expenditures on unemployment insurance and wage bonuses for low-income earners by 15%.
While the AGU has not clarified the reasons behind Brazil’s mounting court expenses, it assures that the AI project will not supplant human efforts but enhance efficiency and precision, all under human supervision. This move aligns with broader governmental efforts, including releasing 25 million reais in supplementary credits for AGU in March to implement strategic IT projects and bolster operational capacities.