Insights from the Bench: Using AI in the Courtroom – Tips and Traps

The presentation explains how to use artificial intelligence in court responsibly, focusing on practical fluency, evidentiary traps, and professional obligations. Justice Seimas outlines core AI concepts (generative, assistive, agentic), how models are trained and updated, and why “black box” opacity, bias, hallucinations, and deepfakes demand early diligence, proper expert selection, and authentication strategies. Justice Tzimas reviews recent Ontario examples involving fabricated citations and misused authorities, stresses hyperlinking and pagination requirements, and reiterates duties to verify sources, supervise work, protect privilege, and avoid misleading the court. Clear pretrial vetting, targeted voir dires, and conservative admissibility decisions are encouraged where AI-affected evidence risks undue prejudice.

Overall, the session focuses on developing AI literacy and rigorous evidentiary discipline so counsel can deploy AI tools without compromising fairness, accuracy, or professional responsibility.