Supreme Court Justice Roberts urges 'caution,' predicts AI will 'significantly' impact legal field

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is urging the cautious use of artificial intelligence, and he predicts it will "significantly" impact the legal field. 

"As 2023 draws to a close with breathless predictions about the future of Artificial Intelligence, some may wonder whether judges are about to become obsolete. I am sure we are not—but equally confident that technological changes will continue to transform our work," Roberts wrote in an end-of-the-year report published Sunday.

"But any use of AI requires caution and humility," he also said before giving an example where attorneys submitted a brief in which AI included a reference to a nonexistent legal case. 

Roberts also said AI raises concerns about confidentiality as well as due process and bias in criminal cases. 

"I predict that human judges will be around for a while. But with equal confidence I predict that judicial work—particularly at the trial level—will be significantly affected by AI. Those changes will involve not only how judges go about doing their job, but also how they understand the role that AI plays in the cases that come before them," he also wrote.

Outside of making up case citations, AI made headlines in the legal field on several occasions over the past year. For example, Fugees rapper Pras Michel sought a new trial in October after he claimed his defense team allegedly used artificial intelligence in his trial earlier in the year that saw him convicted on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

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