Judging in the age of cyborg justice. Symbolic foundations of judicial authority against faceless adjudication in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil is among the global leaders in the digital transformation of the judiciary, particularly through the Justiça 4.0 program, which has driven the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in courts. Mapping these initiatives reveals the growing use of large language models (LLMs), including in adjudication-related activities. Against this backdrop, this research examined the limits of AI in judicial decision-making and the viability of adopting robot judges in the future of Justice 4.0. The study concludes that a highly automated model is incompatible with the principles of due process and the natural judge, as developed by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in cases on judicial anonymity, whose reflections on accountability and liability remain relevant to the current debate. Furthermore, robot judges lack the symbolic legitimacy inherent to the jurisdictional function. Drawing on Dworkin and Bourdieu, it is argued that judicial decisions involve a complex, contextualized, and humanized hermeneutic process whose authority depends on social recognition. While Greek heroic archetypes help illuminate this legitimacy, analogies with indigenous and Afro-Brazilian figures are proposed as more adequate reflections of Latin America's sociopolitical complexities.