Artificial intelligence represents a mixed blessing for the legal field, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said in a year-end report published on Sunday, urging "caution and humility" as the evolving technology transforms judges' and lawyers' work.

He said AI could potentially increase access to justice for indigent litigants, revolutionize legal research, and assist courts in resolving cases more quickly and cheaply while pointing to privacy concerns and the current technology's inability to replicate human discretion.

Robert predicted in the report that human judges will be around for a while, but judicial work – particularly at the trial level – will be significantly affected by AI.

The chief justice's commentary is his most significant discussion to date of the influence of AI on the law. It coincides with several lower courts contending with how best to adapt to a new technology capable of passing the bar exam but also prone to generating fictitious content, known as "hallucinations."

Roberts emphasized that "any use of AI requires caution and humility." He mentioned an instance where AI hallucinations had led lawyers to cite non-existent cases in court papers, which the chief justice said is "always a bad idea." Roberts did not elaborate beyond saying the phenomenon "made headlines this year."

Last week, for instance, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former fixer and lawyer, said in court papers unsealed last week that he mistakenly gave his attorney fake case citations generated by an AI program that made their way into an official court filing. Other instances of lawyers, including AI-hallucinated cases in legal briefs, have also been documented.

Source: The Print