Judges in England and Wales Can Use AI for Writing

Judges in England and Wales can now use artificial intelligence (AI) to assist them in writing legal rulings.

The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary said in a December guidance that AI could be used to help write legal opinions but should not be used for research or legal analyses, Time reported Monday (Jan. 8).

They placed that limitation on use of the technology due to its potential to fabricate information and provide misleading, inaccurate and biased results, according to the report.

Master of the Rolls Geoffrey Vos, the second-highest ranking judge in England and Wales, said that judges do not need to completely avoid the use of AI but must ensure that they protect confidence and take personal responsibility for everything they produce, per the report.

The guidance issued by England and Wales places the country at the forefront of courts addressing AI, although it is not the first set of guidelines on the use of AI in the legal system, according to the report.

Five years ago, the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice of the Council of Europe issued an ethical charter on the use of AI in court systems, the report said. However, the recent guidance from England and Wales addresses the latest iterations of AI and is likely to be widely viewed by courts and jurists worldwide.

Legal experts have applauded the judiciary for addressing the use of AI and believe that the guidance will be useful for courts and judges, the report said. However, some have raised concerns about the lack of accountability mechanisms in the guidance. They question how the document will be enforced and what sanctions will be in place for noncompliance.

The guidance acknowledges the limitations of AI technology and warns judges about potential problems, per the report. It specifically cautions against the use of chatbots, such as ChatGPT, which have the ability to generate text but can also fabricate information.

Judges are also advised not to disclose private or confidential information to chatbots, according to the report.

The guidance also highlights that AI systems have been trained on legal material often based on U.S. law, the report said.

However, judges can use AI as a secondary tool for tasks such as writing background material or summarizing information they already know, per the report.

PYMNTS Intelligence has found that many players in the legal industry are restructuring their practices to accommodate the use of generative AI.

The technology promises to unleash unprecedented efficiency gains for the legal sector but raises complex questions about security, privacy and ethics, according to “The Confluence of Law and AI: An Inevitability Waiting to Happen,” a PYMNTS and AI-ID collaboration.