Executive summary 3

Acronyms and abbreviations 8

Introduction and methodology 9

1. How access to justice is challenged and the wider context 15

Obstacles to justice 15

Recourse through customary and informal justice (CIJ) 26

Justice reform challenges 28

2. Global experiences with Justice AI 30

A typology of Justice AI 30

Uptake of Justice AI 32

The impacts of AI on access to justice 41

Enabling conditions for the introduction of Justice AI 46

3. Risks and governance 47

Convergence on risks 47

Governance layers 49

Risk-based approaches 51

Transferability of the risk-based approach 54

The dangers for FCS in implementing risk-based approaches 56

4. Overcoming access to justice barriers with Justice AI 60

Scenario 1: Challenging circumstances 61

Scenario 2: Firmer foundations 63

Scenario 3: High aspirations 65

Questions and ways forward 69

Mind the (evidence) gaps and proceed with caution 70

Focus on fundamental rights 71

Strengthen and engage more stakeholders in oversight and accountability 72

Adapt international governance principles to local contexts 72

Take an incremental, do-no-harm approach while developing guidelines to

mitigate the risks of shadow AI 73

Prioritize explainability 74

Verify data integrity and proactively address bias 74

Consider using AI to analyse and research justice problems 75

Monitor and verify AI compliance with privacy, data, and copyright laws 76

References 77