Guidance on using AI in court proceedings
This guidance is for anyone who chooses to use AI tools in connection with court proceedings.
This includes legal professionals, people representing themselves, and anyone helping them.
It is important that you understand what these tools can and cannot do, and your duties to the court. Terms used in this guidance are explained at the end.
Table of contents
- Key messages
- Understand the limitations
- Privacy and confidentiality
- Accuracy and responsibility
- Disclosing your use of AI
- Explanation of terms
- Witness statements and affidavits
Key messages
- AI chatbots are not qualified lawyers and do not provide reliable or tailored legal advice.
- AI tools can be wrong, even when the answer looks convincing.
- Do not rely on AI as your only source of legal information.
- You are responsible for what you file. You must check the accuracy and completeness of anything you submit to the court.
If you use AI in preparing documents, you should:
- get copies of any cases, legislation or other sources referenced
- check the sources are real
- check your document matches what the source actually says
If you submit false or misleading material to the court (including by relying on AI without proper checks), the court may impose sanctions. This can include cost orders, or orders dismissing a claim or defence.
Understand the limitations
Generative AI cannot provide reliable legal advice tailored to your case. It is not a safe way to research a legal issue unless you independently verify the results.
AI tools may mix up facts and opinions, or present biased or incorrect statements as fact.
Some AI tools may use information that is out of date or not relevant to Irish law or the Irish courts.
AI tools cannot be relied on to consistently:
- understand the unique facts of your case
- predict the outcome of your case
- provide information that is accurate, complete, up to date and unbiased
- reach legally sound conclusions
Privacy and confidentiality
Anything you enter into a generative AI tool may not be private or confidential. The information you enter in such systems and your search results may be required to be disclosed in legal proceedings.
You are responsible for protecting private, confidential, or legally privileged information. You must also not enter information that a court has directed must not be disclosed.
Sharing restricted information with an AI tool could result in you unintentionally breaching:
- court orders or undertakings restricting disclosure
- statutory prohibitions on publication
- your own or someone else’s privacy or confidentiality
Using generative AI may also raise copyright issues.
Accuracy and responsibility
Using AI does not change your duties to the court. You are responsible for ensuring that everything you file is accurate, no matter where it came from.
You must check the accuracy of any AI output before using it in court proceedings.
You should read and familiarise yourself with any relevant Practice Directions.
AI tools may:
- make up fake cases, citations or quotes, or refer to non-existent legislation or articles
- misstate the law or how it applies to your case
- get facts wrong
- confirm something is true when it is not
- give different answers when asked the same question again
AI output can look convincing even when it is wrong. You should rigorously check it, or check it with a lawyer (if possible).
Any inaccuracies must be corrected immediately, and an amended copy must be provided to the court and the other party with an explanation.
Disclosing your use of AI
The court may require you to disclose your use of AI tools, including the steps you took to check the accuracy of your filings.
If a query is raised about the use of AI in your documents, you should be able to explain how you used it and how you checked its output.
You may also have to explain the contents of your documents and submissions, and any material you present as evidence, including images, audio or video.
The court may sanction you or strike out your claim or defence if you use AI tools inappropriately or fail to address concerns raised about your use of AI tools.
Fake or misleading material must never be used in court proceedings.
Witness statements and affidavits
You must not use AI to generate the content of any affidavit or witness statement. The witness will have to formally confirm this. These documents must set out the witness's own personal knowledge, recollection and evidence.
They must include a declaration in one of the opening paragraphs, amended or adapted as appropriate, as follows:
I declare that Generative Artificial Intelligence has not been used for the purposes of generating the substantive content of this [witness statement/affidavit], including by way of altering, embellishing, strengthening, diluting or rephrasing the evidence set out, and that this [witness statement/affidavit] reflects my personal knowledge, recollection and evidence.
Explanation of terms
- Artificial intelligence (AI): computer systems that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence.
- Generative AI: a type of AI that can create new content, such as text, images, audio or video.
- AI chatbot: a tool that allows you to interact through conversation and can generate responses using AI.
Non-lawyers include:
- Litigants in person: people who represent themselves in court (sometimes called self-represented or unrepresented).
- McKenzie friend: a person who may accompany a litigant to court (with the court’s permission) and provide reasonable help (for example, taking notes or organising documents). They are not qualified lawyers and are generally not permitted to make submissions directly to the court.
