Welcome to 2024! As we look at the year ahead, every court administrator and judge is increasingly confronted by the enormous impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on our lives.

Whether it is customer service chatbots, self-driving cars, ChatGPT, or AI generated art, AI is coming faster than ever. And do not doubt that it also has the potential to transform every aspect of court operations. As Judge Scott Schlegel stated on a recent NCSC webinar, “AI has completely upended the justice system as we know it.”  The Atlantic “Intelligence” newsletter recently summed it up this way:

One year ago, ChatGPT was released into the world. The startlingly human-sounding chatbot kicked off the generative-AI revolution and quickly became one of the most successful internet applications ever—invading classrooms, workplaces, online stores, and more. The program has created billions of dollars of value where none existed before and enabled entire new skills and fields of work around coaxing useful responses from chatbots.

But perhaps more important than any direct, material change, ChatGPT has sparked our imaginations, feeding many people’s hopes and fears about the rise of intelligent machines: boundless productivity, boundless information, boundless misinformation…OpenAI’s premier chatbot is bending how entire industries, government bodies, financial institutions, and media publications think about the future. For the past year, our brains have been trapped in ChatGPT’s world.[i]

Further evidence of the accelerating impact of AI is the Gartner Group’s “IT Trends” for the coming year. It is no surprise that the first four (out of ten) trends are AI related:

  1. Democratized generative AI
  2. AI trust, risk, and security management
  3. AI-augmented development
  4. Intelligent applications

Although the pace of AI-enabled applications has certainly exploded in the past year, let us not forget that AI in the courts has been discussed for many years already. For example, here at the Court Leader we have posted AI-related items dating back to 2016,[ii] and the International Journal of Court Administration published Dory Reiling’s article, Courts and Artificial Intelligence, in 2020.[iii]

So, what can court administrators and judges do now to successfully address the use of AI in their courts? An essential start is to make sure you are well-versed in the subject matter. Here are some useful resources (besides the IJCA article cited above), including both American and European examples (too often here in the U.S., we do not look beyond our borders, and they have much to offer):

  1. European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), European ethical Charter on the use of Artificial Intelligence in Judicial Systems and their Environment (2018); ES250132_PREMS 005419 GBR 2013 charte ethique CEPEJ WEB A5.pdf (coe.int)
  2. COSCA-NACM Joint Technology Committee (JTC) Resource Bulletin (2020):  Introduction to AI for Courts (ncsc.org)
  3. The Federal Judicial Center (FJC), “An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence for Federal Judges,” (2023): https://www.fjc.gov/content/375968/introduction-artificial-intelligence-federal-judges
  4. NCSC’s general website of resources: Artificial Intelligence | NCSC
    1. NCSC Webinars Webinars | NCSC
      1.  The promises and perils of AI in the Courts: AI 101, https://vimeo.com/855350490 (August 16, 2023)
      1. The Impact of AI in the Courts, https://vimeo.com/875960451, October 18, 2023
    1. COSCA-CCCJ announcement of new “AI Response Team,” Dec. 13, 2023; Response team will assist courts with AI policy and practice | NCSC
  5. State of California Report, The Benefits and Risks of Generative AI, November 2023; State of California Benefits and Risks of Generative Artificial Intelligence Report
  6. The Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) Opinion No. 26, Moving Forward: the Use of Assistive Technology in the Judiciary, (2023); The CCJE adopts Opinion No. 26 (2023) “Moving forward: the use of assistive technology in the judiciary” – Human Rights and Rule of Law (coe.int)
  7. Global Toolkit on AI and the Rule of Law for the Judiciary, UNESCO 2023:  unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000387331/PDF/387331eng.pdf.multi

Due to the breadth of the subject matter, I will continue to explore the use of AI in the Courts – 2024, in my next blog post (part 2). In that post I will address:

  1. How is AI being used now in courts (what are the “use cases”)?
  2. Where are we headed (what are future applications)?
  3. What are key factors to consider regarding the use of AI in the courts?
  4. How should we prepare for the future of AI in courts?

I would appreciate comments and suggestions for information to include in part 2. For instance, what are examples of excellent, current AI applications (uses) in the courts, as well as what are courts contemplating for AI applications? Thank you for reading this post and have a wonderful 2024.

[i]  Atlantic Intelligence newsletter, December 1, 2023; Matteo Wong, Assistant Editor; https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/atlantic-intelligence/

[ii] December 2016 article by Alan Carlson: https://courtleader.net/2018/12/16/using-artificial-intelligence-and-big-data-to-develop-tools-used-in-courts/; July 2018 Vantage Point blog post #11: https://courtleader.net/2018/07/18/got-artificial-intelligence-if-you-dont-already-you-will-soon/; Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast April 4, 2019: https://courtleader.net/2019/04/04/court-leaders-advantage-artificial-intelligence-what-you-need-to-know-now/; Court Leader’s Advantage podcast, June 2019:  https://courtleader.net/2019/06/30/is-ai-already-here-the-answers-may-startle-you/

[iii] Reiling, A. D. (Dory). “Courts and Artificial Intelligence.” International Journal for Court Administration 11, no. 2 (August 10, 2020):  Courts and Artificial Intelligence – International Journal for Court Administration (iacajournal.org)

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Published by Norman Meyer

After 38 years as a trial court administrator in the state and federal courts in the U.S., Norman continues to write, teach, and otherwise participate in judicial administration activities world-wide. In particular, he is active in the International Association for Court Administration (IACA) as a past Regional Vice President and Advisory Board member, in the National Association for Court Management (NACM) as a Past President (having received NACM's Award of Merit), and as an Associate of the Justice Speakers Institute. Norman has extensive experience working on international Rule of Law projects, particularly in the Russian Federation, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Albania. Norman is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of New Mexico (Political Science and Russian Studies), and he received the Master of Science in Judicial Administration from the University of Denver College of Law.

3 thoughts on “AI in the Courts – 2024 (Part One)”

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