By Joshua Rozenberg
Publication Date: 2026-04-27 04:59:00
Judges are using artificial intelligence to improve their sentences, according to a senior member of the judiciary announced last week.
Sir Colin Birsswho, as Chancellor of the Supreme Court, is the chief chancery judge and has day-to-day responsibility for the economic and property courts, described four ways judges are now using AI:
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To detect inconsistencies. “As soon as I finish writing a judgment,” he said, “I pass it to the secure Copilot system on my computer and ask it to identify any internal inconsistencies.
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Make anonymous judgments if necessary. After a judge writes a ruling in the normal way, AI can be asked to suggest redactions. Judges have reported that the AI captured details that, when read together, can lead to a “puzzle identification” of the…