The state representative relied in her response to the court in a criminal proceeding on false findings created by artificial intelligence, without conducting the required examination. This is according to the decision of the Ombudsman for State Representatives in Courts, retired Judge Menachem Finkelstein.
The complaint filed with the Commission alleged that during a judicial proceeding, police investigators made negligent and unsupervised use of artificial intelligence in a response submitted to the court, regarding a defendant's request to return his mobile phone, which was seized by the police.
After the investigation of the complaint by the commission and receiving the police's responses, commissioner Menachem Finkelstein determined that the complaint was justified and noted: "It is indisputable that the law on which the police unit sought to base its opposition to the return of the phone - the 'Criminal Procedure Law (Enforcement Powers, Search and Seizure of Computers') - does not exist, and is the product of the invention of artificial intelligence.".
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In his decision, the Commissioner noted that "this is a puzzling and serious conduct by the police investigation unit, which relied blindly on the findings of artificial intelligence, so that the state representative whose job it is to assist the court in delivering justice, actually did the opposite.".
In light of the incident's wider implications, the police stated in their response that the Israel Police Investigations Division had already formulated guidelines regarding the use of artificial intelligence, which were distributed to the entire investigation system.
In light of the importance of the matter and the possibility of the phenomenon spreading, the Commissioner found it appropriate to convey his decision to the Legal Advisor to the Government and the State Attorney, so that they may consider formulating a guideline on the subject that would constitute norms for the use of artificial intelligence tools, in order to prevent such cases.
