Ombudsman using AI to vet ICI’s ‘mega boxes of data’
As many as “200 mega boxes of data” gathered by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) will be examined by the Office of the Ombudsman using artificial intelligence (AI), Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Friday after the ICI completed the turnover of of the documents to his agency.
This means not only boxes of documents, evidence and reports, but also hard drives “contain[ing] thousands and thousands of pages” will be vetted for accuracy and authenticity using AI technology.
Backbone of cases
These include contracts involving flood control projects, many of which formed the basis of ICI recommendations to prosecute a number of officials and contractors.
Remulla said the forwarded documents “form the backbone of each and every case.”
Their examination in the next few days “will be very important. With the aid of artificial intelligence, it’s easier to look at this data and to have it organized,” he said in a press conference.
‘Guide we can use’
Without naming the AI technology to be used, Remulla spoke of a “sorter tool” that should be able to single out relevant data from huge volumes of documents.
He clarified, however, that AI “will not be the one to define our work. But it’s a guide that we can use to make sure that we’re able to scrutinize the data or the details within the data that will make or break a case.”
The ICI has until March 31 to wind down its operations, according to its chair, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr.
The commission was established in September last year at the height of the corruption scandal over the government’s flood works projects—which President Marcos himself exposed in his July 28 State of the Nation Address.
Several officials were found to be allegedly involved, including incumbent and former lawmakers such as resigned congressman Zaldy Co. The party list lawmaker became a fugitive from justice after he was charged last November by the Ombudsman with graft, malversation and falsification of documents, in connection with a P289.5-million substandard dike project in Oriental Mindoro.
Remulla said the ICI’s brief period in operation was not enough “to draw all the conclusions,” but that he was still impressed by what the commission had accomplished.
“They started from scratch, and I actually praise them for being able to come up with many things that were not in the equation before,” he said. “It has come to the point that I’m quite impressed with much of the output.”
Now that the commission’s work is almost done, the Ombudsman invited the ICI’s legal staff to join his agency.
“I’m asking them to apply here so that we will not waste the institutional knowledge that we already have,” Remulla said.
