Justice Marco Villas Boas, general director of the Superior School of the Judges of the State of Tocantins (Esmat) and president of the Permanent College of Directors of State Schools of the Magistracy (Copedem), participated on Thursday (July 31st) in the International Seminar on "Socioeconomic Rights and Democracy", promoted by the Center for Legal Studies of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
The Opening Table was composed by Justice Cláudio Luís Braga dell'Orto, director of the School of the Judges of the State of Rio de Janeiro (EMERJ); by Justice Marco; and by Paula Saldanha, superintendent of the Institutional Legal Area of the BNDES.
During the opening, Justice Marco Villas Boas stressed the importance of strengthening dialogue between the Judiciary and other institutions for national development. In his speech, he highlighted that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) should be guided by the conciliation among technological progress, respect for cultural diversity and environmental preservation. Referring to the Amazon as a symbol of these intersections, he warned about the risks of digital globalism and the disproportionate influence of large technology companies on democracy.
Justice cited concerns of indigenous leaders, such as the indigenous writer member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters Ailton Krenak, who sees AI as the dumbest invention of humanity. Villas Boas addressed the inadequacy of AI models to the realities of indigenous peoples, proposing that these tools be used in a critical way, aiming at the valorization of local cultures and environmental protection.
“If we look at artificial intelligence from the indigenous worldview, understanding that the indigenous peoples are distinct from western society and do not have a capitalist production and consumption system, nor a technical-scientific society, we will see that they are right. However, AI can be an important tool to help these peoples preserve their cultures, their languages and protect nature," he said.
As an example of positive application, Justice Marco cited the MapBiomes Project, which brings together public institutions such as the BNDES and the Court of Auditors of the Union (TCU), as well as private and international organizations, to map and monitor land use changes in Brazil through state-of-the-art technologies. In his speech, the CEO of Esmat emphasized the role of the Judiciary in the mediation between technological innovation and social justice.
“We live in an era marked by profound digital transformations. Artificial intelligence, if developed with responsibility, can be an ally in preserving the environment and valuing traditional knowledge. But for this, there must be regionalization, popular participation and strengthening of democratic institutions such as the Judiciary and the BNDES", he said.
Seminar
The seminar also had the participation of important names in the national and international legal environment, such as Oscar Vilhena Vieira (FGV), David Landau (Florida State University), Mariana Pargendler (Harvard Law School) and Kevin Davis (New York University - NYU), which discussed issues such as social rights and their constitutional protection, in addition to legal heterodoxy in the Global South.
