AI Creates Challenges for Judges and Courts Around the World

Source Domain: nysba.org

As more attorneys incorporate artificial intelligence into their practices, courts around the world are figuring out how to account for this technology while being aware of its risks. The New York State Bar Association hosted a global seminar for judges to share tips and strategies on handling AI in the courts.

The speakers were:

Judge Seo Yoon Lee, Judicial Research & Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea in Seoul, South Korea.
Judge Sidney H. Stein of the United States District Court, Southern District of New York.
Judge Friedrich Joachim Mehmel, former president of the Hamburg Constitutional Court in Hamburg, Germany.

Jonathan Armstrong, partner at Punter Southall Law in London, served as moderator. Nearly 300 people attended.

Judge Stein shared that he recently had a case in which there were incorrect quotations on a brief due to an attorney’s use of AI. “My clerk alerted me to the fact that a number of the quotations from cases were not accurate,” he said. “The cases existed, and the case citation was correct. But the quotations from the cases were made up.”

Judge Stein said the lawyer in charge of the case took full responsibility for the error and promised that his firm would train lawyers in AI so it would not happen again. So the judge did not pursue disciplinary measures.

“I think as the risks of false citations [and] hallucinations become more well known, the occasions of that happening will decrease,” said Judge Stein. “I can’t guarantee it. We’ll see. But it would be extraordinary for me to try to impose criminal penalties for what really is a civil wrong. I think fines may be appropriate… The public embarrassment should be enough to avoid it happening.”

Judge Lee said that courts in South Korea have proposed a model for AI in judicial proceedings. In this model, AI can only be used if all…

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