On Wednesday 2 July, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) and the European Judicial Cybercrime Network (EJCN) published the tenth annual edition of the Cybercrime Judicial Monitor (CJM).
This report for the EU’s judicial and police authorities, which details legislative, judicial and operational developments in cybercrime in the European Union, devotes its thematic dossier to artificial intelligence, which it examines both through the prism of crime and as a tool at the service of judicial activity.
On the one hand, according to the report, “AI systems are increasingly being used for criminal purposes”, in particular to generate deceptive or harmful content (deepfakes), automate phishing attacks, develop malicious software or bypass security systems.
The CJM is therefore calling for a focus on the role and “responsibility of developers, suppliers and users of general-purpose AI systems or models designed for criminal purposes”.
On the other hand, judicial and police authorities are increasingly relying on AI to analyse large volumes of electronic data, cross-reference information from multiple sources and detect suspicious behaviour.
According to the report, it is nevertheless necessary to regulate these uses, and it argues that “specific considerations” need to be taken into account regarding the admissibility of evidence gathered in this way.
These considerations relate to fundamental guarantees such as respect for the right to a fair trial, but also the transparency of the technological tools used, the traceability of processing and the possibility for the parties to access the data and challenge the results produced.
In addition, effective human control is recommended, particularly when AI is helping to analyse evidence or establish facts.
The report also points out the risks associated with the lack of documentation or clear explanations of how the systems used work, which can have consequences for the evaluation of evidence and the rights of the defence.
It also points out that, even if the admissibility of evidence is a matter for national law, European principles must be applied. To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the skills of magistrates in the use of these tools, as well as judicial cooperation between Member States.
Read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/hpl (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)