Arabic version: تسمانيا تراجع استخدام الذكاء الاصطناعي في قرارات الإفراج المشروط

According to The Guardian, Tasmania’s justice department is reviewing whether artificial intelligence may have informed past Parole Board decisions after an AI-assisted document cited non-existent case law in the case of convicted murderer Susan Neill-Fraser.

The department confirmed on Friday evening that the review was under way, four days after a parole condition imposed on Neill-Fraser was ruled invalid. Neill-Fraser was released on parole in 2022 after serving 13 years for murdering her partner, Bob Chappell, on their yacht in 2009.

The Parole Board had added conditions preventing Neill-Fraser from speaking to the media to claim innocence or allege a wrongful conviction. Following her legal challenge, Tasmania’s supreme court ruled on Tuesday that the condition was invalid and had been made without procedural fairness.

In court, it emerged that the board relied on a document prepared with AI assistance and containing a citation to case law that did not exist. A justice department spokesperson said the review would determine the extent to which AI might have been used to inform earlier board decisions, but said the department could not comment further while it continued.

Prisoners Legal Service Tasmania chair Greg Barns called the conditions deeply troubling and said it was extraordinary that the cited case law had not been checked. The service is auditing two years of Parole Board decisions for signs of AI use or mistakes. Sarah Schwartz of the Human Rights Law Centre, which represented Neill-Fraser, said the case exposed serious deficiencies. Attorney general Guy Barnett has sought an explanation from the board, describing the mistake as unacceptable.