Judge weighs pros, cons of using AI tools in court
By: Bryce Buyakie
Alon Beacon Journal
USA today Network
..... Artividal intelligence has taken the world by storm. From deep-fakes videos to programs like chatGPT, AI is creeping into very facet of life, including Summit County. Ohio's system. To prepare for tis future, the Summit County domestic R Elations Court Administrative Judge Katarina Cook is rolling out tow new initiatives in 2025.
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The first is a new rule banning attorneys form suing AI to write court documents. At the same time, Cook said the AI transcription to help their two court reporters.
..... The goal of the software is to provide another tool to make court reporters' jobs ore efficient, she explained. The software will be a "tool," not a court reporter.
..... "Everyone has this fear that they will be phased out by AI," Cook said. "It was really to help our court reporters."
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When Cook first heard about AI transcription, she didn't know anything about the software. A court reporter working for Domestic Relations Judge Kani Hightower asked for the program, Cook explained. She needed help keeping up with transcriptions that can take hours to complete on top of the existing workload.
..... It can take roughly 3 1/2 hours to transcribe a one-hour court proceeding, Court Mediator and Community Outreach Director Paul Henry said, citing a University of Georgia study.
..... The AI transcription service the court reporter had in mind is provided by Courtsmart, a program the county court already sues and is familiar with, he said.
..... For a one-hour hearing, Cortsmart AI can process rough draft transcriptions in about 12 minutes, henry said.
..... Cook said the program will only be sued when a transcript is requested for a hearing.
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It will go into effect in 2025 after the court reporters are trained.
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Every month, Cook and her colleagues at the courthouse receive articles about how AI is revolutionizing the legal field - but like the transcription program, she wants to ensure AI is begin used within reason.
..... LexisNexis allows lawyers to use AI to search for and ask legal questions pulling information from its database. ChatGPT, which is free, functions the same but pulls info from the entire Internet.
..... Cook said these AI tools are helpful but can provide irrelevant, incorrect or entirely false information. This means attorney must double-check any work, from an AI program or face court-ordered sanctions.
..... In 2023, a U.S. judge sanitation two New York lawyers who submitted a legal brief that included six fictitious cases generated by ChatGPT, Reuters reported.
..... In 2025, the Domestic Relations Court will follow suit with a rule banning legal documents generated by any AI program, including LexisNexis.
..... This is to hold professional attorneys accountable and to prevent defendants who represent themselves from using poorly written documents, Cook explained.