Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Justice to detail the (i) use; and (ii) development, by (a) her Department; and (b) its arm’s-length bodies, of Artificial Intelligence products.
Minister of Justice:
The Department
My Department has adopted a DoJ policy on the use of AI which follows an internal approval process involving technical experts and the Data Protection Officer as well as oversight from the Department’s Senior Information Risk Owner. This ensures a full assessment of the risk is carried out before any business areas proceeds with a consideration to use AI for a task in the Department. My officials have started to evaluate using Microsoft Co-Pilot to aid with tasks such as background research, summarising complex documents, preparation of document templates and prioritisation of emails.
Although not a Department of Justice Programme, The Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime (EPPOC) is hosted from within my Department. EPPOC has been exploring the use of AI to enhance efficiency and support strategic delivery. This work involves development of a Proof of Concept to demonstrate how AI can automate the extraction of management information from project returns for a management dashboard.
ALB’s
The Probation Board (PBNI), Criminal Justice Inspectorate, and Policing Board are all evaluating the use of Microsoft Co-Pilot to aid administrative tasks.
In PSNI use of AI is limited and focused on supporting administrative efficiency rather than operational decisions. This includes work on Voice-to-Text transcription, the review of harmful digital material, and video analytics to assist in evidence assessment.
All the ALB’s using AI have processes in place to oversee the governance and assurance on the use of artificial intelligence.
ENDS
Your MLA 