‘Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy’s announcement on the 9th of June 2026 concerning AI use in the Crown courts is potentially of great significance. There is no doubt that there is a need to address the backlog in criminal trials, which is harmful to all parties concerned. The use of AI in this way is well established, for example the Victor project in Brazil has been addressing court backlogs using AI since 2018. The scope of AI use in the judicial function can be described as a spectrum with straight forward administrative tasks at one end of the spectrum to fully substantive use at the other – sometimes described as ‘robo judges’ where AI would act autonomously. Lammy talks of AI being used to augment the judicial role and what has been announced is definitely at the administrative end of the spectrum. Whilst there is acknowledgement of potential risks (such as hallucinations) there are additional, and in someways more concerning, risks that are not always so apparent. Cowan in his book Law and Technology describes Amara’s law, where there is a tendency to overestimate technology in the short term but underestimate it in the long term and it is this potential lack of understanding of the longer term which troubles me as a PhD researcher in this field. Nobody can know the future but we obviously need to consider and plan for it. The judicial function (the purpose, activities and behaviour of judges) is a complex interconnected framework. It relies on much human skill and humanity. AI tools can, and I would argue, should be introduced into this framework, but I think there is a risk that these tools will become integrated and will develop in a way that might not have been anticipated – the underestimation of the long-term. It may be that AI will develop the skills necessary to be able to handle complex cases and that as a society we will be so used to AI in our lives we are happy to accept this, but as we start the AI journey into the judicial function it is important that we do this with our eyes open. It is here that I have concerns.’
Link: https://ials.sas.ac.uk/news-events/blogs/ai-coming-court-near-you
AI Update 