The Robots Are Here!

Abstract There has been much hyperbole about artificial intelligence (AI) and how it will upend all aspects of our society. While predicting the future is hard, what we know for sure is that AI and data analytics are here now, and they are an increasingly important part of the criminal justice process. To be effective now and in the future, advocates, jurists, probation officers, other criminal justice professionals, and policymakers will need to understand these tools, how they are used, and how they might be regulated and governed. These editor’s observations summarize a special double issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter that was developed to help further that understanding.