This post was contributed by Ms Charlotte Crilly, Teaching Fellow for Legal system and method.
Speaking last year, the Master of the Rolls has said that AI may affect the ‘foundational principles of our common law’. Many areas of law, like contract and tort, property law and criminal law, may be affected by the rapid adoption of AI tools and the many ways in which they will be used.
Could even judicial decision-making be driven by AI? It sounds a far-fetched and highly controversial idea that legal decisions could ever be made by AI with an appeal to a human judge, and the Master of the Rolls understandably does not substantively comment on this. But he does argue that judges will need to be familiar with AI in three contexts:
- Cases which concern liability for the use (or non-use) of AI;
- AI could be used for summarising complex material, if this does not breach confidentiality;
- The use of AI in the context of the creation of a digital justice system.
The senior judiciary are alert to the risks of AI in the justice system, and have published guidance for judicial office-holders, making it clear that ‘the use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) throughout society continues to increase, and so does its relevance to the court and tribunal system.’ The guidance contains some cautionary messages:
- It is crucial to understand the capabilities and limitations of generative AI. What it produces may be inaccurate, incomplete, misleading or biased.
- Lawyers and judges must not feed confidential information into AI tools.
- If AI is used to summarise information or draft documents, or for any other purpose, the result must be checked before being used.
The Master of the Rolls explains that the guidance is just the first step in the work needed to support the judiciary in the use of AI in the court system, as the technology continues to develop. Students may remember hearing in the news about a case where a litigating party provided a tax tribunal with nine previous decisions, all of which turned out to be ‘hallucinated’ by an AI program. This is unlikely to be the last high-profile interaction between AI, the court system and the common law.
Further Reading
Sir Geoffrey Vos, ‘AI – Transforming the Work of Lawyers and Judges’, 8 March 2024, The Manchester Law Society. (Accessed 22 January 2025).
Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Judicial Guidance, 12 December 2023. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. (Accessed 22 January 2025).