Symposium on AI in judicial work today
The International Symposium on "Anticipating Artificial Intelligence in Judicial Work" will kick off today at the St. Regis Al Mouj Muscat under the auspices of Shaikh Ghosn bin Hilal al Alawi, Chairman of the State Audit Institution (SAI) and Deputy of the Supreme Judicial Council.
The event will be attended by ministers, dignitaries, representatives from government entities and the private sector, as well as researchers, academics and professionals interested in law and artificial intelligence.
Dr Salem bin Zuwaid al Hashmi, Assistant Secretary-General for Planning and Digital Transformation, stated that the Supreme Judicial Council aims to create a platform for professional dialogue between legal researchers and AI specialists.
The goal is to emphasise the importance of anticipating AI applications in the judiciary amidst rapid digital transformation and modern legal challenges. This includes enhancing efficiency in justice, addressing legal and ethical issues, and promoting international cooperation, innovation and sustainable development.
Dr Al Hashmi highlighted that the symposium aligns with the Council's strategic vision to adopt global best practices in the judiciary, particularly regarding the use of technology and AI in Oman.
The aim is to position Oman as a leader in applying rule of law standards. The symposium provides an opportunity for experts and researchers to showcase the latest developments in utilising AI in judicial systems and legislation, as well as exploring opportunities for international cooperation and expertise exchange in AI-related legal and legislative matters.
The symposium programme will feature panel discussions on key issues related to legal, technical and ethical challenges of AI in the judiciary. It will propose solutions to ensure safe and effective AI use, discuss future visions for AI implementation in judicial work, suggest technological advancements to enhance justice and efficiency, and present innovative ideas for smart legal training and sustainable innovation in the judicial sector.
The symposium will focus on three main themes: legal, ethical and security challenges in AI use within the judiciary; practical applications of AI in judicial work; and future developments and international cooperation in AI use in the judicial field.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times of Oman
21 hours ago
- Times of Oman
Zoho Launches Zia Hubs to Empower Businesses in Oman and the region
Zoho Corp., a leading global technology company, today announced the launch of Zia Hubs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, a new solution within Zoho WorkDrive, the company's secure content collaboration platform that enables businesses to extract intelligence from unstructured data and activate it across their operations. Built on Zia, Zoho's proprietary AI engine, Zia Hubs allows organisations to connect various types of content—documents, audio, video, and more—to Zoho's expansive suite of apps for deeper insights, agentic AI capabilities, and unified, context-aware search. "According to IDC, 80 percent of business data is unstructured," said Hyther Nizam, President Middle East and Africa (MEA), Zoho. "Most unstructured data is text-based, meaning pertinent information lives within email conversations, social media posts, word processor documents, or audio and video transcripts. In fast-evolving economies like those in the Middle East, the ability to leverage AI to unlock hidden value from business content can dramatically improve decision-making, operations, and customer engagement. With Zia Hubs deeply integrated into our suite of apps, customers can put their data to work in ways unmatched by any other platform,' Nizam added. Zia Hubs is now part of Zoho WorkDrive, which gives businesses full control over what content is AI-accessible and allows them to organise team or project-specific material into dedicated 'hubs". Once the content—ranging from PDFs and spreadsheets to call logs and video files—is added to a hub, Zia automatically structures it, preserving context through section headings, supporting visuals, and linked references. For audio and video content, Zia generates searchable transcripts and highlights key moments tied to relevant topics, making it easy to locate exact moments quickly. With Zia Hubs, users can ask complex questions and receive cited answers that span across myriad content formats. Whether a user is referencing a legal document, financial spreadsheet, or customer support recording, Zia's responses link directly to the original material. Businesses can also create automated workflows using Zoho Flow, ensuring that the latest relevant files are consistently routed into the appropriate hubs for ongoing analysis. Moreover, Zia Hubs supports content from third-party sources such as DocuSign, RingCentral, and Zoom, giving teams the ability to manage and analyse external data with the same intelligence layer. Zia Hubs is a foundational element of Zoho's long-term AI strategy, laying the groundwork for a future where intelligent agents can act contextually on content across the company's entire product suite. With full ownership of its technology stack spanning more than 55 products, Zoho is uniquely positioned to help organisations unlock deeper value from their business content compared to competitors. Future updates to Zia Hubs will allow it to identify structured information within unstructured files and trigger specialised agents tailored to specific business needs, further utilising Zia Hubs as the central content intelligence layer that activates AI-native workflows across the full Zoho ecosystem. Zia Hubs will be available as part of Zoho WorkDrive by end of Q3 2025, and would integrate fully with applications like Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk, Zoho Projects, and Zoho Flow. Businesses in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and throughout the region can take advantage of this powerful new capability to transform content into intelligence and intelligence into action.
Observer
2 days ago
- Observer
The ethics of using AI to predict patient choices
I recently attended a conference on bioethics in Switzerland where professionals from different countries met to discuss recent topics in medical ethics which was the main theme of this year's conference. Among the highlights of the meeting were several talks about the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence in decision-making and its ethical impact. What caught my attention was a talk about Personalised Patient Preference Predictor, or P4, which is a tool that aims to predict an individual patient's preferences for healthcare, using machine learning. The idea is that in situations where a person is incapacitated — for example, found unconscious with no advance directive — the AI would comb through their digital footprint, including tweets, Instagram and Facebook posts, and possibly even emails, to infer their likely wishes. The system would then create a virtual copy of the individual's personality, known as a 'psychological twin,' which would communicate decisions to the medical team on the person's behalf. While this concept is technologically fascinating, it raises several pressing ethical concerns. First, it assumes that our social media presence accurately reflects our core values and long-term preferences. However, people's views are dynamic and influenced by their emotional state, life experiences, and personal growth. A sarcastic tweet or a momentary opinion shared online may not represent someone's actual end-of-life wishes. Second, the use of AI risks introducing or amplifying bias — especially against the elderly and individuals from ethnic or religious minorities. AI systems often generalise from large datasets, which can lead to 'one-size-fits-all' assumptions that disregard cultural, spiritual, or personal nuances. Another critical question is: can AI truly understand or navigate the emotional and moral complexity of disagreements among family members and healthcare providers? Would it possess the empathy required to mediate a delicate conversation, or would it deliver cold logic such as: 'Grandpa is too old, his survival chances are low, so resources would be better allocated elsewhere'? Furthermore, relying on AI for such deeply human decisions risks the deskilling of health professionals. Ethical decision-making is an essential skill developed through experience, reflection, and dialogue. If AI takes over these roles, clinicians may gradually lose the ability — or the confidence — to engage in these vital discussions. The speaker, who advocated for the use of P4, admitted he did not fully understand how the AI makes its decisions. This lack of transparency is alarming. If we are to entrust a machine with life-or-death recommendations, we must first demand clarity and accountability in its design and operation. In my opinion, while AI has a growing role in healthcare, ethical decision-making remains a human responsibility. These discussions are often fraught with disagreement, cultural sensitivity, and intense emotion — particularly when they involve questions of life and death. In my view, we are not yet ready to hand this task over to machines. We are not yet ready to hand this task over to machines.
Times of Oman
2 days ago
- Times of Oman
Oman to enhance AI contributions to national economy
Times News Service Muscat: Oman is actively working to enhance the contribution of artificial intelligence (AI) to the national economy by increasing the number of specialised startups and expanding research and scientific investment in this vital field. In September 2024, the Council of Ministers approved the National Programme for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Digital Technologies as part of a comprehensive strategic plan built on three main pillars: 1. Promoting the adoption of AI across economic and developmental sectors 2. Localising AI technologies by supporting homegrown solutions and developing national capabilities so that Oman becomes a producer and developer of digital technologies 3. Governing AI applications with a human-centric vision, creating a flexible regulatory environment that ensures the ethical and effective use of emerging technologies. Hassan bin Fada Hussein Al Lawati, Head of the National Programme for AI and Advanced Digital Technologies at the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, highlighted that the programme benefits key economic, development, and service sectors that directly impact citizens' quality of life. In a statement to the Oman News Agency, Al Lawati noted that Oman advanced five spots in the Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index, ranking 45th globally out of 193 countries in 2024, up from 50th in 2023. Regionally, Oman ranks 5th in MENA and 4th among GCC states, with ambitions to join the global top 30. The programme targets a 20% annual increase in the number of AI-focused tech startups, which have already grown from fewer than 10 at the programme's inception to over 25 today. Cumulative investments in AI projects have reached approximately OMR60 million over the past four years, with plans to increase investment by 20% annually. The Ministry has also launched the 'AI Innovators' initiative in collaboration with the University of Technology and Applied Sciences to promote AI knowledge production and honor top researchers, scientific papers, and projects. Additionally, Al-Lawati mentioned the 'Engineer IT with AI' competition, designed to localise and encourage generative AI innovation, empower national talent, and increase economic returns through startup creation and performance benchmarks. A specialised initiative titled 'Humanising AI' has also been introduced to ensure a balanced approach that integrates technological empowerment with human-centred service delivery and inclusive access for all segments of society.
