All rise – court hearings in the metaverse
A court hearing in Colombia recently took place in the metaverse, with participants using virtual reality headsets and appearing as avatars. The Colombian judicial system is emerging as a frontrunner in the adoption of cutting-edge technology, and the metaverse court hearing came hot on the heels of a Colombian judge using the artificial intelligence application, ChatGPT, to help prepare a judgment.
Reaction to the hearing (that can be watched here), has been mixed - some viewing it as an exciting step forward, others concerned, for example, that the hearing lacked gravitas.
On the basis that avatars do not reflect a witness’s actual facial expressions and body language, use of the technology at this stage in court hearings equates to assessing witness evidence in a telephone hearing, rather than a video-based hearing (such as hearings using the Cloud Video Platform (CVP) currently used by employment tribunals).
Could virtual reality court and tribunal hearings be the future in the UK though?
Verification of an individual’s identity will be important if an avatar is used in court hearings - in the Colombian case participants were instructed to enter a verification code to prove their identities.
As with some CVP hearings, concerns may also arise about whether someone is being coached during their evidence. However, until technology has advanced to a point where perhaps some kind of augmented reality could be used, so that you are in effect watching the actual person’s facial expressions and body language, the telltale signs of this will be harder to spot. In respect of assessing witness evidence generally the same issues arise with current avatars, although there is, of course, debate about how much emphasis should be given by a court or tribunal to a witness’s ‘demeanour’ when they are giving evidence. For now though, a witness being seen while giving evidence is viewed as key in many court and tribunal hearings.
Additionally, there is the issue of accessibility and affordability when it comes to virtual reality hardware. It is hard to see that this technology will be adopted any time soon in employment tribunals, when tribunal users are told that resources are constantly stretched. Litigants in person often have difficulties logging onto the CVP, let alone dealing with more complex technology and although most people now own a smartphone, most households do not have virtual reality headsets. Reports also suggest women are more susceptible to motion sickness associated with virtual reality than men - any negative bias on this basis (whatever the underlying cause of that may be) would need to be addressed to ensure equal access and experience.
So, the answer in respect of UK court and tribunal hearings is probably “not for now” but the metaverse is already being used successfully in different settings. Accenture, for example, is reported as successfully using a metaverse that it has created, called the “Nth floor”, for staff onboarding. The benefits of training employees in a 3D virtual world in areas such as surgery, aviation and dealing with aggressive individuals or dangerous situations are obvious, and the metaverse can allow enhanced remote collaboration in design work.
The pandemic drove forward remote access to court and tribunal hearings in a way that could not have been predicted and despite the challenges the metaverse presents, it is possible to see a future (albeit perhaps not the immediate future), where virtual reality technology will enable remote hearings to be even more effective.
Authors: Gary Henderson (Partner) and Aisleen Pugh (Professional Support Lawyer)
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