The recent advances in technology, and particularly artificial intelligence, are having an extremely profound effect on very diverse sectors, including that of the judiciary in its various manifestations. The work presented here analyses some of the more recent developments in artificial intelligence in the field of the application of law, with the aim of discerning the point up to which we are approaching the idea – not so utopian now  – of the AI judge and the automated application of law. The analysis is structured in three different areas, which are at the same time complimentary: firstly, there is an analysis of the conceptual aspect (what distinct elements and activities involve the judicial application of law, with the aim of determining what processes would be necessary to automate in order to be able to speak of an “AI judge”); secondly, a number of recent technologies and applications are presented which would influence in some way the application of law, with the purpose of determining at what point we would find ourselves with respect to a process of automation; and finally, there will be a brief reflection on the possible positive or negative effects an automation of the application of law would involve.

The trend of artificial intelligence is arriving in public administrations, even if this is happening at a slower pace than in other sectors. Today, there are already some public administrations which use artificial intelligence in data analysis, decision-making, fraud detection and irregularities, and the provision of public services. The use of artificial intelligence creates a number of challenges for public administrations that need to be addressed, such as the current lack of transparency, the biases and discrimination, the decrease in guarantees in the processing of administrative procedures, the responsibility for damages caused by the use of artificial intelligence, and its impact on public employment. Artificial intelligence is one of the foundations of intelligent governance; it must include all people in order to contribute to a sustainable development.

The technologies based on artificial intelligence and robotics are one of the leading challenges facing us now with regards to the future of human work. The so-called Industry 4.0 is placing various business models in doubt, transforming training requirements for the system of production, and is progressively impacting on the distribution of profit.

The Spanish labour market provides a good example of how this new wave of technological change can have an impact on the levels and especially the structure of employment. A growing polarisation can be seen in labour demand and employment opportunities in accordance with educational levels and the various effects of labour imbalance, which are principally attributable to the characteristics of a dominant production model that is intensive in tasks of a routine nature but not particularly active in the incorporation of emerging technologies.

Mobile marketing is a field of digital marketing constantly being reinterpreted due to the unstoppable progress of smart devices, founded little more than ten years ago, which have little to do with the conventional mobile phones that appeared in the nineteen nineties. In the same manner that interconnected mobility is changing human habits, the rest of the areas in digital marketing knowledge are adapting to a new reality which does not yet have known behavioural patterns. Mobility has an immense impact on digital marketing spheres, such as advertising, search engines, social networks, email marketing and promotional marketing. All these have been transforming, to the detriment of traditional browsing and functionalities linked to desktop computers. We are therefore reaching that moment in which digital mobility itself forms an implicit part of the definition of marketing. We could say that the concept independent of mobile marketing has its days numbered.

In recent years, technological solutions of varying degrees of complexity have emerged that have driven the evolution of logistics and supply chain, and which enable concordance between the requirements and limitations faced by customers in the eCommerce shopping process.

Advances in certain technologies in other sectors has enabled them to be incorporated into logistics and the supply chain, not only adding value for the customer through the customization of the products and services on offer, but also having an impact on suppliers and other actors that form part of the chain, enabling them to achieve enhanced responsiveness in terms of stock planning, management and transportation.

In the future, the adoption of these new technologies will require a process of specialization at the expense of the purely operational role that has characterized the logistics sector to date, as well as requiring new standards and regulatory bodies to be generated that enable their integration and development.

Concern for the future of employment is a recurring theme whenever a process of disruptive change in technology takes place. Economic analysis has shown that technology does not destroy work, but it skews skills and abilities, and displaces tasks, jobs, occupations and people. Generally, in the long term, the consequences of these technological waves on work tend to be positive because they are linked to increases in productivity, new economic activity, higher employment and salary improvements for people working in firms or sectors related to technological innovation. In addition, the effects of job substitution can be offset in the long term if firms’ strategies and policies, especially in terms of human resource management, take the form of active employment policies that train and reskill displaced people. This general form of interaction of technology with work has been questioned with the recent digital wave characterized, among other factors, by the explosion of intelligent robotics. According to some authors, the rate of substitution of human labour by robots will be so fast that they can hardly be compensated by the usual route of increases in demand and productivity. Other authors argue just the opposite, and frame the current dynamics within the context of the traditional interactions between technology and work. However, robotics is non-human work, has very particular and dynamic characteristics, offers a wide range of possibilities of use and, at the same time, generates fears too. In this article, we will analyse the employment implications of new robotics, paying special attention to the human resources management.