{"id":9723,"date":"2026-07-18T16:34:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9723"},"modified":"2026-07-18T16:34:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:34:39","slug":"the-benchs-ai-balancing-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9723","title":{"rendered":"The bench&#039;s AI balancing act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/u1nnO9JXUZFIl2EP-wZ9N1kXSzU=\/1366x768\/smart\/2023\/08\/31\/152508-1693495508585.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/04\/23\/poll-trump-should-follow-court-rulings-pm\" target=\"_blank\">Judges<\/a> are becoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/technology\/automation-and-ai\" target=\"_blank\">AI<\/a> firewalls, setting guidelines for lawyers and litigants entering their courtrooms and reprimanding those who fail to vet their research or cite fake AI-generated cases.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>But judges are also navigating how to use the tech themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law360.com\/pulse\/ai-tracker\" target=\"_blank\">attorney sanctions<\/a> mount for irresponsible AI use, judges&#8217; chambers are at the center of the push and pull between innovation and caution. Some early adopters see AI use as a catalyst for justice \u2014 while other jurists remain staunchly skeptical.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;AI has the possibility to be an incredible value adder and force maximizer in the federal judiciary,&#8221; says Amy Cyphert, a West Virginia University College of Law professor. &#8220;But it also has the potential to undermine public confidence in the judiciary at a time where it&#8217;s already at a historic low.&#8221; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>By the numbers: <\/strong>60% of 112 judges <a href=\"https:\/\/news.northwestern.edu\/stories\/2026\/03\/northwestern-study-finds-a-significant-number-of-federal-judges-are-already-using-ai-tools\" target=\"_blank\">surveyed<\/a> by Northwestern researchers reported using at least one AI tool. Just over 22% used AI tools weekly or daily.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cyphert&#8217;s own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsc.org\/resources-courts\/judicial-use-generative-ai-lessons-learned\" target=\"_blank\">research<\/a> found judges worry about not only the risks of AI hallucinations but also<strong> <\/strong>the privacy and confidentiality implications.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Yes, but: <\/strong>AI adoption is outpacing training, the judges reported in the survey. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To fill those gaps, Magistrate Judge Maritza Braswell of the U.S. District Court of Colorado founded the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aiforjudges.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Judicial AI Consortium (JAIC)<\/a>, alongside Judge Scott Schlegel of Louisiana&#8217;s circuit court and U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez. <\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Because the technology is moving very fast, I think the tendency tends to be to start from a place of fear,&#8221; she says. So, &#8220;we&#8217;ve really created the space where we start from a place of knowledge.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Friction point: <\/strong>U.S. District Judge<strong> <\/strong>Liam O&#8217;Grady of the Eastern District of Virginia tells Axios that before he retired in 2023, judges were fascinated by AI \u2014 but they also &#8220;had pretty grave doubts about its reliability.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lawyers, he says, had begun turning to the tools \u2014 and &#8220;it was clear that mistakes were being made right away.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Case in point: <\/strong>Last month, a federal judge in Mississippi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abajournal.com\/news\/article\/federal-judge-terminates-4-plaintiff-and-defense-attorneys-over-ai-errors#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\">punished<\/a> four lawyers and canceled a civil trial after both sides cited fake, AI-generated cases. And it&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/government\/us-judge-says-he-wont-explain-error-ridden-ruling-mississippi-civil-rights-case-2025-08-04\/\" target=\"_blank\">not<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/websitedc.s3.amazonaws.com\/documents\/Payne_v._State.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">just<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/websitedc.s3.amazonaws.com\/documents\/Henry_County_Schools_USA_10_June_2026.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">lawyers<\/a> who have faced heat.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Damien Charlotin, a senior research fellow at HEC Paris, has identified <a href=\"https:\/\/www.damiencharlotin.com\/hallucinations\/\" target=\"_blank\">more than 1,700 cases<\/a> where generative AI hallucinated. <\/li>\n<li>On Thursday, a federal judge in Michigan <a href=\"https:\/\/fingfx.thomsonreuters.com\/gfx\/legaldocs\/movazwdeopa\/DOJ%20citation%20order%20-%20WD%20Mich%2020260716.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">accused<\/a> the government of likely citing an AI-generated case in an immigration-related filing. <\/li>\n<li>While Chief Judge Hala Jarbou, a Trump appointee, did not impose sanctions, she wrote that &#8220;the Government must ensure its future filings with this Court do not include nonexistent case law.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The solution, <\/strong>JAIC&#8217;s judicial co-founders who spoke with Axios emphasized, is education.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t shut down Zoom court because one lawyer showed up as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lGOofzZOyl8\" target=\"_blank\">cat<\/a>,&#8221; Schlegel says. <\/li>\n<li>Rodriguez adds that it&#8217;s &#8220;a work in progress by everybody \u2014 lawyers and judges alike.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Plus, Braswell worries an outsized<strong> <\/strong>focus on hallucinations could distract from other ethical considerations, like bias and access to justice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Threat level:<\/strong> Schlegel adds that judges approach lawyers&#8217; or pro se litigants&#8217; use of AI differently than how they think about using it in their chambers.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;We need to be much more thoughtful in the way that we use these tools,&#8221; he says, adding, &#8220;When we sign an order, if there&#8217;s something wrong in it, that&#8217;s the law.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The bottom line: <\/strong>Judges are learning a fast-moving technology from a seat where getting it wrong is most costly.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;I started practice in the &#8217;70s with the typewriter,&#8221; O&#8217;Grady says, adding, &#8220;There&#8217;s been such a dramatic jump in technology.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>He says it&#8217;s &#8220;like learning a new language when you&#8217;re 60 or 70 years old \u2014 It&#8217;s not easy. We&#8217;ve got a whole generation of judges who this is just completely new to, and they&#8217;re cautious and skeptical.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Go deeper:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2023\/09\/12\/ai-judges-trials-predictions\" target=\"_blank\">AI tells lawyers how judges are likely to rule<\/a><\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Judges are becoming AI firewalls, setting guidelines for lawyers and litigants entering their courtrooms and reprimanding those who fail to vet their research or cite fake AI-generated cases. But judges are also navigating how to use the tech themselves. Why it matters: As attorney sanctions mount for irresponsible AI use, judges&#8217; chambers are at the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/u1nnO9JXUZFIl2EP-wZ9N1kXSzU=\/1366x768\/smart\/2023\/08\/31\/152508-1693495508585.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}