AI Describes Many Technologies and None of Them Are Intelligent

Justice Speakers Institute · Feb 3, 2026

This article is part of the Hardwiring Justice series on Artificial Intelligence and the Justice System. This is Part 2 in the series examining how AI is shaping policing, prosecution, defense practice, and the courts.*[1]

The term artificial intelligence (AI) is something of an oxymoron. This technology is not intelligent, it is software following rules written by people, and there is nothing artificial about how it work. The term simply refers to computer programs designed to handle tasks that would otherwise be done by people. They do not think or understand. They follow instructions, look…