This week’s announcement that HMCTS is to test the ability of its home-grown AI software to generate transcripts of Crown court proceedings generated quite a bit of comment. Some, admittedly, was of the ‘What could possibly go wrong?’ variety. But other comments were more positive. After all, the idea has been kicking around for the best part of a decade: initially, the aim was to produce ‘good enough’ rough transcripts for data analysis. 

Since then, thanks to large language models, the technology has advanced by leaps and bounds. And with it the enthusiasm of justice ministers. In fact, there seems to be a bit of competition over who will seize the agenda. Last year, it was Lord Timpson announcing the ‘AI Action Plan for Justice’. Earlier this year, the lord chancellor (or deputy PM as he prefers to be known) chose a Microsoft event of all places to announce his court reforms (presumably to endow a Wilsonian white heat to the more regressive aspects). 

And this week courts minister Sarah Sackman grabbed the chance to present free AI transcripts as a breakthrough for victims of crime. 

Of course, we are still at an early stage. First of all, we need to prove the technology works – crime victims won’t be happy with ‘good enough’. Then there are tricky questions about who will have access to the transcripts database: Palantir? Or AI companies developing robot counsel? We suspect that fielding these issues will be shunted on to the most junior member of the ministerial team. 

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