Can AI increase access to justice, by helping people resolve their legal problems in more accessible, equitable, and effective ways? What are the risks that AI poses for people seeking legal guidance, that technical and policy guardrails should mitigate?

In this course, students will design and develop new demonstration AI projects and pilot plans, combining human-centered design, tech & data work, and law & policy knowledge. 

Students will work on interdisciplinary teams, each partnered with frontline legal aid and court groups interested in using AI to improve their public services. Using human-centered design, student teams will help their partners scope specific AI projects, spot and mitigate risks, train a model, test its performance, and think through a plan to safely pilot the AI.  

By the end of the class, students and their partners will co-design new tech pilots to help people dealing with legal problems like evictions, reentry from the criminal justice system, debt collection, and more.

Students will get experience in human-centered AI development, and critical thinking about if and how technology projects can be used in helping the public with a high-stakes legal problem. Along with their AI pilot, teams will establish important guidelines to ensure that new AI projects are centered on the needs of people, and developed with a careful eye towards ethical and legal principles.

Students are able, but not required,to enroll in both Fall and Winter quarters of the class. The class may be extended to Spring quarter, depending on the issues raised.

Join our policy lab team to do R&D to define the future of AI for legal help. Apply for the class at the SLS Policy Lab link here.