Judges In England And Wales Given ‘Cautious’ Approval To Use AI For Legal Work

Judges in England and Wales can now use generative AI systems like ChatGPT for basic tasks such as summarising large bodies of text, making presentations, or composing emails, as per a guidance issued by the UK judiciary.

Last month, the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary stated that while AI could assist in drafting opinions, it should not be employed for research or legal analyses due to its potential to generate misleading, inaccurate, and biased information.

The guidance issued said that any use of AI by or on behalf of the judiciary “must be consistent with the judiciary’s overarching obligation to protect the integrity of the administration of justice”.

The guidelines caution judges to be wary of potential indications that a work may be generated by AI, such as references to unfamiliar cases or foreign citations.

Another red flag is when parties cite diverse bodies of case law for identical legal issues or submit arguments that deviate from a judge's typical understanding of the law in a specific area.

The guidelines have also warned of privacy risks attached to the use of AI and asked not to enter any private or confidential information into a public AI chatbot that isn’t already public.