A law school’s trial by AI jury

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Sara Merken

What's going on today?

Eric Muller/Handout via REUTERS

Could artificial intelligence someday replace humans in the jury box?

The University of North Carolina School of Law tested that concept on Friday with one of the first simulated trials featuring AI jurors. The AI chatbots earned praise for their attentiveness and ability to process information, but garnered criticism for their lack of real-world experience and inability to pick up on elements such as the body language of witnesses.

North Carolina law professor Joseph Kennedy, who organized the simulation and served as the trial's judge, said some judges are already using AI to help make bail decisions and sentencing recommendations. Experimenting with AI juries seemed like a logical next step.

OpenAI's ChatGPT, xAI's Grok and Anthropic's Claude were asked to determine the fate of a fictional defendant. The case was based on an actual client Kennedy represented decades ago.

Read more about the outcome of the AI jury trial from Karen Sloan.

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

A coalition of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit to stop President Trump's administration from suspending food aid benefits starting on November 1 amid the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.

Attorneys general and governors from 25 states and D.C. filed the lawsuit in Boston federal court after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would not use $6 billion in contingency funds to pay for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as food stamps. Read the complaint here.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress have traded blame for the shutdown and for the risk that SNAP benefits, which provide food assistance to more than 41 million low-income Americans, could lapse in November.

The USDA's shutdown plan had included the potential use of contingency funds for SNAP, but on Saturday the department updated its website to say no benefits would be issued on November 1 as scheduled, stating "the well has run dry." Read more from Nate Raymond.

Two words – "respectful consideration" – could be key in one of the year's biggest appellate battles, as Argentina on Wednesday asks the 2nd Circuit to overturn a staggering $16.1 billion judgment. In On the Case, Jenna Greene takes a look at the fight, and how much deference U.S. courts should give a foreign sovereign's interpretation of its own laws.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in western Jamaica as a powerful Category 5 storm and the strongest ever to directly hit the Caribbean nation … Microsoft and OpenAI announced a deal to allow the ChatGPT maker to restructure itself into a public benefit corporation … U.S. military officials involved with President Trump's expanding operations in Latin America have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, three U.S. officials say … At least 22 people, including four police officers, were killed in a large-scale operation against organized crime in Rio de Janeiro. Plus, a look inside the Trump family's global crypto cash machine.

sara.merken@thomsonreuters.com

@saramerken

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