Consultation Reponse to Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts

Summary:
1. This response focuses on how AI could be used to improve the criminal courts. We envisage three main potential uses: organising court operations/caseloads; automating document review and drafting; informing or generating evidence presented in court.
2. Experience has shown however that potential benefits will not necessarily be realised if speed is treated as the key metric and the introduction of AI is not treated with caution. There are demonstrable risks that inaccurate outputs from AI tools can have serious detrimental knock-on effects within the criminal justice system.
3. Before evidence generated by or with AI tools becomes ubiquitous in criminal proceedings, urgent attention should be given to issues of reliability, validity, uncertainty and transparency, informed by exercises such as mock trials, and consideration given to the need for new evidential rules.