Rodrigo Duterte defense considered AI amid massive ICC evidence review

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Former president Rodrigo Duterte's defense team said it considered using artificial intelligence (AI) and other electronic methods to review tens of thousands of documents related to his case, but found that a suitable AI tool could cost nearly half a million euros (almost P36.18 million).

The issue came up during Wednesday's status conference before the International Criminal Court (ICC) Trial Chamber III as Duterte's counsel Peter Haynes raised concerns over the volume and organization of evidence disclosed by the prosecution.

Duterte appeared in person before the Court for the first time since his initial appearance hearing in March 2025.

Haynes said the prosecution's evidence list contains nearly 20,000 items, compared to about 5,000 at the confirmation stage.

"We haven't got a prayer of reading 20,000 items of evidence by a trial date that starts at the end of November, and even less a prayer of dealing with them in our brief, which has to be filed on the 30th of October," Haynes said.

He also told the Chamber that a separate disclosure package involved 62,500 items, around 324,000 pages of evidence and more than 1,000 audio and video files.

Trial Chamber III presiding Judge Joanna Korner asked whether the fact that the records are now digital and searchable could allow the defense to review them more quickly through electronic methods.

"Because it's all digitalized, it's more searchable. And provided you give it terms that meet the criteria, it is possible to go through it quicker than we're all in the proverbial boxes in a warehouse," the judge said.

Haynes said the defense had already researched the possibility of using AI.

"We did research the possibility of acquiring an AI tool to do it, and it will cost very nearly half a million euros," he said.

The defense also argued that prosecutors should have reviewed and sorted the materials before it was disclosed. Haynes said part of the material had been in the prosecution's possession since November 2021.

"They're supposed to triage this material and disclose it, having read it. They've never read it, and they've had it for five years," Haynes said.

Haynes described several problems with the disclosure, including individual pages of the same document being filed separately and assigned different evidence numbers. He said one 400-page document had been disclosed page by page, with the defense receiving 347 of the 400 pages.

He proposed moving a smaller set of materials to a new case file and limiting the disclosure there to around 10,000 documents.

The prosecution disputed Haynes' description of the disclosure. ICC Senior Trial Lawyer Julian Nicholls said the defense's account was "not all accurate" and "really exaggerated," although he acknowledged that some duplicates and other problems may exist.

The Chamber said the issue should be resolved quickly and ordered the defense to put its concerns and proposed solution in writing.

"So, Mr. Haynes, we'll give you seven days. We'll say close business by next Wednesday to file a motion about this," the judge said.

The prosecution will then be given seven days to respond.

The judge also urged both sides to try to settle the disclosure issues between themselves, while acknowledging the difficulties involved "even with electronic methods."

"We obviously have to resolve this sooner rather than later," the judge said. — VDV, GMA News