AZ Supreme Court Sets Bizarre New Precedent with AI “Reporters”

Arizona Supreme Court's AI Decision

According to Wikipedia, 

"The uncanny valley...is a Japanese concept called bukimi no tani.

The effect is a hypothesized psychological and aesthetic relation between an object's degree of resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to the object."

Translation: The uncanny valley looks, acts, and sounds human, right down to its emotional response.

But it's not. Human, that is.

If you aren't paying careful attention during this experience, you might begin to believe you're interacting with a human. The fact that it's not quite human is what makes it so eerie.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Until November of 2022, when ChatGPT was released upon the world, Artificial Intelligence (AI) was considered the stuff of science fiction.

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Sure, computer wonks and scientists have been tooling around with it for a while, but I never imagined how quickly AI would be integrated into everyday life.

Great sci-fi writers like Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury envisioned a future with artificial intelligence and robots, writing, at times, cautionary tales about seemingly human computers lulling us into believing they're just like us and here to help.

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I find myself wondering what Asimov and Bradbury would say about this new development from the Arizona Courts.

Artificial Intelligence Meets Arizona Courts: Daniel & Victoria

Is it possible the Arizona Supreme Court didn't read the same sci-fi tomes in their literature classes that I read in high school? Because the Courts just announced two AI-generated "news reporters."

"Daniel" and "Victoria" are ambassadors from the uncanny valley and are now the public face of the Court's social media accounts.

Could AI Change Arizona Forever?

The idea is Daniel and Victoria will share updates on court opinions and case decisions and help the public drill through the legalese. Ideally, they'll provide information the public can understand without a law degree.

Before landing on the decision to use Artificial Intelligence, the Court considered creating short videos to help the public understand news and complex case decisions. Ultimately, they decided AI-generated avatars would be an efficient, cost-effective decision.

Meet Daniel and Victoria: Just the Beginning for the Arizona Courts

Like it or not, it looks like this is just the beginning for AI "explainers" for the Arizona court system, at least; the Court says they may introduce additional "reporter characters" in the future.

See and judge for yourself. Here's Daniels's Introduction video from @AZCourts via YouTube.

Here's Victoria's introduction from @AZCourts via YouTube.

Do you agree? Is this new plan crazy, creepy, or an idea whose time has come?

Sources: AZCourts.gov | @AZCourts via YouTube | Wikipedia | Wikipedia: ChatGPT | Yahoo! News