The caseload at Brazil\u2019s top court is a drop in the larger<\/a> pool of 76 million lawsuits currently clogging the country\u2019s judicial system. Running the overburdened system costs the government $30 billion annually, equal to 1.6% <\/a>of the gross domestic product.<\/p>\n To cope, Brazil has embarked on one of the world\u2019s largest deployments of AI. Since 2019, its courts have developed or implemented over 140 AI projects that use machine learning or large language models, according to a 2024 survey<\/a> by the National Council of Justice. The programs find precedents, categorize cases, and help draft documents. Some also forecast the decisions of judges and flag repeat litigants.<\/p>\n Some of the AI tools have helped the courts become more efficient, process documents faster, and cut down the time taken for judicial proceedings, according to the survey.<\/p>\n At the Supreme Court, law clerk Arianne Vasconcelos smiled as she explained how AI helps her deliver better reports to the judges.<\/p>\n The 42-year-old works in a department that handles lawsuits about potential constitutional violations. Typically, her department gets around 76 new cases every month, according to Supreme Court data<\/a>. Her job is to analyze the argument and create a summary. She also drafts decisions for Lu\u00eds Roberto Barroso, the current chief justice, to review.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\tLaw books at the Mattos Filho law firm, where partners have lately been using a legal AI chatbot named Harvey.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\tArianne Vasconcelos (right), a law clerk at the Supreme Court, said a custom-built chatbot has made her more productive. Last December, Vasconcelos got a new helper: MarIA, a generative-AI based tool that helps her write reports. Earlier, she used to write one-pagers and move to the next case on her ever-growing pile, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, MarIA drafts the reports, which Vasconcelos reviews.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUsing MarIA, you can now make a much more extensive and complete [report],\u201d she told Rest of World. \u201cIt\u2019s easier to adjust [what the AI produced] than start from scratch.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The MarIA tool was developed by STF\u2019s tech team, and uses Google\u2019s Gemini and OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT models, said Natacha Oliveira, the team coordinator.<\/p>\n \u201cAI is providing high quality work,\u201d she told Rest of World. \u201cIf anything stops working, clerks immediately complain. \u201dAI tools have helped reduce the backlog at the Supreme Court, Oliveira said. <\/p>\n By June, the backlog dropped to the lowest level since 1992, according to a productivity report from the Supreme Court<\/a>. Nationwide, judges at various levels of the judiciary closed 75% more cases last year than they did in 2020, data from the National Council of Justice<\/a> shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n AI\u2019s helping hand extends to lawyers: More than half of Brazil\u2019s attorneys use generative AI daily, according to a 2025 poll<\/a> by the country\u2019s Bar Association. They filed over 39 million new lawsuits last year \u2014 a 46% jump since 2020, data from the National Council of Justice<\/a> shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n Drafting a defense used to take 20 minutes. Now it can be done in seconds, Daniel Marques, president of Brazilian law-tech association AB2L<\/a>, told Rest of World.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor a lawyer who bills by the hour, that\u2019s a big efficiency gain,\u201d he said. \u201cBut he can\u2019t be lazy. This will be done much faster, but it needs to be reviewed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The legal profession is rooted in language, rules, and logic \u2014 the very same elements generative AI is good at, according<\/a> to a report by venture capital firm Contrary Capital. That makes the profession a natural target for AI companies. A Goldman Sachs report<\/a> estimates 44% of legal tasks could potentially be automated in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n Venture capitalists have taken note and invested<\/a> over $1 billion in global legal-tech startups this year. The market for legal technologies is expected to hit $47 billion by 2029, according to market research firm Research and Markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n The enthusiasm has been tempered by concerns that AI sometimes makes things up, or hallucinates. There have been over 350 cases<\/a> so far of lawyers filing court documents containing made-up precedents and laws worldwide, according to estimates by legal researcher Damien Charlotin. Brazil has seen at least six cases<\/a> this year, resulting in fines for the lawyers involved.<\/p>\n The United Nations cautioned<\/a> governments this July against \u201ctechno-solutionism\u201d in legal work.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAI should not be adopted without careful assessment of its potential harms, how to mitigate those harms and whether other solutions would be less risky,\u201d the report said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawyer Thiago Sombra\u2019s 12th-floor office overlooks Bras\u00edlia\u2019s most important courtyard: the Esplanada dos Minist\u00e9rios, which houses 17 government ministries. If he squints, he might make out the modernist twin towers of the Senate on the horizon.\u00a0<\/p>\n The location reflects the clout of his employer Mattos Filho, one of Brazil\u2019s most prominent law firms with clients such as Google, Meta, and Microsoft. Big tech companies have repeatedly clashed with the nation\u2019s strict tech rules, making Bras\u00edlia a major front<\/a> in global battles over tech regulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n One August afternoon, Sombra was busy talking to the AI chatbot Harvey<\/a>, named after the suave lead in the TV legal drama Suits.<\/p>\n Sombra often feeds the chatbot with legal documents, then asks it to look for loopholes. He also uses Harvey to compare opposing expert reports and find out which is more plausible and consistent, he told Rest of World.<\/p>\n Until March 2024, the 44-year-old would\u2019ve done the legwork himself, or assembled his team for a brainstorm. Now, he gets a response within seconds. He uses the chatbot as a research assistant, a document comparison tool, or as a reviewer of court filings, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gives me a crude analysis that I can aggregate on my own,\u201d he said.\u00a0Each lawyer at the firm saves about three hours every week by using Harvey, a spokesperson told Rest of World.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\tA workspace at the Supreme Court. The nation\u2019s top judges have delivered several landmark rulings on Big Tech. Developed by a San Francisco-based tech company valued<\/a> at $5 billion, the tool uses OpenAI\u2019s models trained on legal data. The company is one of the top legal-tech startups today, funded by investors including Sequoia Capital and OpenAI\u2019s Investment Fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n Harvey is deployed in 54 countries and has more than 50,000 users, Katie Burke, head of people at Harvey, told Rest of World. The program hallucinates<\/a> to a lesser<\/a> degree than top models like Claude and Gemini, the company said. Still, users should review its outputs and cross-check the sources provided by Harvey, Burke said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWithout the references, I can\u2019t check if [the chatbot] is making things up,\u201d Sombra said.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/REST-OF-WORLD_AI-2-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sized_REST-OF-WORLD_AI-84.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\t\tFernanda Fraz\u00e3o for Rest of World<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sized_REST-OF-WORLD_AI-67.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\t\tFernanda Fraz\u00e3o for Rest of World<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sized_REST-OF-WORLD_AI-103.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Close-up](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sized_REST-OF-WORLD_AI-112.jpg\")
<\/p>\n