Mitigating the Judicial Human-AI Fairness Gap

Date: March 4, 2026 (Wednesday)

Time: 6pm – 7pm

Venue: Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong

Are robot judges perceived as less fair than human judges? If so, how can this perceived judicial human-AI fairness gap be mitigated? We conduct two large online experiments with more than 7,400 observations to explore whether delegating judicial tasks to algorithms affects perceived procedural fairness and how human-in-the-loop interventions might offset any fairness gap. Participants are randomly assigned to assess one of the following conditions: a pure robot court (no human oversight), a pure human court (no algorithmic decision aids), or a hybrid court (a human judge assisted by algorithmic decision aids). Within the human and the hybrid conditions, we further vary whether the human judge conducts a thorough (high involvement) or brief (low involvement) review. Confirming prior research, we find robust evidence of a judicial human-AI fairness gap: participants perceive robot courts as less fair than human courts. Crucially, even low human involvement fully closes this gap. Exploring the impact of ethnicity, we also find a substantial fairness gap between Black and White participants in the hybrid court conditions, where Black participants assess the procedure to be less fair than White participants. Overall, our results suggest that delegating judicial tasks to algorithmic systems may not undermine perceived procedural fairness if they remain subject to human review. However, our findings also raise the concern that nominal human oversight could be used to legitimize substantively unfair algorithmic procedures in the eyes of ordinary citizens.

Yoan Hermstrüwer’s research explores how behavioral science, economics, and artificial intelligence can inform legal design, legal reasoning, and the solution of social problems. He applies empirical, experimental, and computational methods to study the interaction between humans and algorithmic decision-making, the application of market design to legal institutions, and the use of AI (machine learning, large language models) to analyze legal reasoning. He publishes in peer-reviewed journals across economics and psychology (e.g., The Economic Journal; Games and Economic Behavior; Psychology, Public Policy, and Law), law journals (e.g., NYU Journal of Law & Liberty), and computer science proceedings (e.g., International Conference on Learning Representations; Natural Legal Language Processing Workshop).

For full bio, visit: https://www.ius.uzh.ch/de/staff/professorships/alphabetical/hermstruewer/team/person.html.

Moderator: Benjamin Chen, Associate Professor & Director of the Law and Technology Centre, The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law

A paper will be circulated in advance and attendees will be expected to have read the paper before the seminar.  We are applying for a CPD point with the Law Society of Hong Kong.

For inquiries, please contact Ms. Grace Chan at mcgrace@hku.hk / 3917 4727.