This bill would allow courts to use artificial intelligence or other machine assisted translation in civil or criminal proceedings (including trials), certain municipal proceedings, and administrative contested case proceedings. Additionally, the bill would permit the use of interpreters appearing by phone/video in a criminal trial.
AI interpretation is subject to error, misrepresentation, and breach of privacy, raising constitutional concerns regarding the right to due process under the 5th and 14th Amendment and the right to a fair trial and effective assistance of Counsel under the 6th Amendment.
A number of proceedings directly implicating a person’s liberty interests would be affected by this bill. Practically speaking, this means a court could allow a robot interpreter for someone during a criminal trial to determine whether they are innocent or their guilt is established by proof beyond a reasonable doubt that could lead them to being incarcerated in prison. The bill would permit robot interpreters in cases where the state is seeking to terminate a parents’ rights (sometimes called the “civil death penalty”), because it irreversibly severs the level relationship between a child and their parents, their siblings, and the rest of their family. It would also permit robot interpreters in cases where someone can be held against their will in an inpatient mental health facility or involuntarily ordered to take medication for an extended period of time.
Qualified court interpreters follow a code of ethics because of their critical role in guaranteeing the right to due process and fair proceedings. Would robots need to follow this code of ethics?
AI as a courtroom interpreter? Bill could make Wisconsin the first (CapTimes, May 2025)
