Workshop on: "Trust in Evidence in an Era of Artificial Intelligence: Socio-Legal Perspectives"

AI has impacted almost every aspect of modern life, and the justice system is no exception. Building on the work of the TRUE project (https://www.trueproject.co.uk), this workshop seeks to explore a timely and important question from a socio-legal perspective: How has AI impacted the perceived credibility of evidence? We are increasingly confronted with deepfakes – convincing AI-generated images, audio, and video – which risk undermining our trust in genuine evidence. Simultaneously, investigators, lawyers, and judges are exploring how AI might help to organise the huge volumes of evidence that they need to comb through. However, digital inequalities may cause injustice in whose voices get heard in an increasingly digitised landscape, and the adaptation of AI tools raises important questions around fairness, equality of arms, authority and legitimacy. 

Bringing together expertise from law, psychology, linguistics, technology, and civil society, the workshop will provide a unique interdisciplinary space to explore these urgent issues. Interdisciplinary thematic panels will explore the themes of AI’s impact on open source investigations; epistemic trust in an era of AI; how AI impacts evidence’s perceived credibility in the eyes of juries; legal responses to AI’s impact on evidence, and how AI has impacted on democratic participation in investigations and courtroom processes. The final afternoon is dedicated to an interactive discussion, which will draw out key findings and co-design a set of recommendations for judges and lawmakers. This workshop will make a strong contribution to socio-legal studies by exploring technological developments in their broader social, ethical and institutional contexts. By analysing AI’s role in shaping what counts as credible evidence, the workshop extends socio-legal debates on truth, power asymmetries, socio-technical resilience, and the lived experiences of participants in investigations and legal processes.