In a bid to make justice system easy and accessible, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Citizens’ Gavel has unveiled an Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled product, ‘Podus’ that has the potential to make everyone have access to justice.
At the launching of the product with the theme “AI for justice: Highlighting the innovative use of AI in the legal sector and its potential to revolutionise access to justice”, Tech lead, Citizens’ Gavel, Oluwadamilare Ayankoya explained that Podus is a platform that is built to increase access to justice for the indigent people, the ones who have less access to justice because of the cost of justice.
“So, we have built the platform to help connect them with lawyers who assist in getting justice for these indigent people. Another thing is we built an AI, we have to do this for legal sector which is AI for justice and is to helps people to know their rights, it helps with the legal knowledge, legal advice, it helps with legal resources, that’s been able to draft letters, it’s just a legal assistance instead of reaching out to someone far. One can ask any questions, give it query around the legal sector. it gives you the best of advice in legal space,” he said.
A lawyer and member of the NGO, Femi Ajibade said the essence of the AI tool is to bring justice very close to everyone.
His words: “We are not just creating factual chat box, but we are creating something that can help the vulnerable, the least person and the way we are coming in is to use exiting tools like WhatsApp. So, what we are trying to do is to integrate an AI tool,so that whatever legal problem you have, you can solve them using AI depending on your location.
“For Podus, we are trying to revamp it using AI, bringing those AI tools and their functionalities into their platforms do that it will help people because podus is a platform whereby people can request for an emergency and legal aid, maybe you are in a police mess, they violate your fundamental human rights, you easily come to Podus to request legal aid and it connect you to a lawyer within your location.”
Team Lead, Citizens’ Gavel, Nelson Olanipekun said: “The AI for Justice represents a noteworthy advancement in our mission to empower Nigerians in confidently navigating the legal landscape and accessing legal resources through AI technology.
“PodusAI is potential to enhance legal processes, making them more efficient. People are now empowered to write well-crafted petitions or letters to file complaints against injustices leveraging various complaints centers of government such as Human Rights Commission, Ombudsman, States’ Mediation Centres, among others.”
In response to the inquiry regarding the potential job displacement of lawyers, a software engineer, Alabi Joshua said the product will not replace lawyers but will liberate them from mundane task, allowing them to focus on more within less time, expanding their capabilities to efficiently handle multiple briefs.
He added that the AI would help lawyers reduce their workload and also help non lawyers get adequate response on time.
Joshua emphasized the due diligence by lawyers using the tool as AI is only meant to enhance their work.
