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Abstract: The legal system, courts, and judges in particular, are often criticized for being slow to address new technologies. That has not been the case with artificial intelligence (“AI”), especially since the public release of generative AI programs such as ChatGPT. In the last couple of years, the court systems and individual courts have proactively taken steps to anticipate and prepare to deal with issues created by AI. These actions include both steps to allow courts to take advantage of the benefits offered by AI, and to be prepared to identify and mitigate the risks created by AI. This rare technological activism by the courts reflects an understanding of the profound impacts that AI is likely to have on the legal system and society.
This Article reviews the actions that courts have taken to address AI. Part I examines the role of the courts in policing the inappropriate use of AI by attorneys. Part II describes the courts' utilization of AI in their operations, both in administrative applications and in researching and drafting judicial opinions and orders. In both supervising attorneys' and their own use of AI, courts have acted surprisingly proactively, spurred on by the rapid speed and powerful capabilities of emerging AI tools.
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