Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Charanjit Singh, tenant and barrister-at-law at Holborn Chambers and senior lawyer (general counsel) at the Nursing and Midwifery Council, warns that more than 60 UK cases have already involved AI-generated false authorities.
Reviewing recent decisions, including Cork v Smith and Re A, B, C, D, he argues lawyers must never 'outsource the thinking process' to AI, particularly where hallucinated citations can mislead the court. While retrieval-augmented generation systems improve reliability, Singh says technology is no substitute for auditable human verification. He also cautions supervisors against overreliance on junior staff using AI, noting that reputational damage, regulatory investigations and even contempt proceedings may follow unchecked errors.
Used responsibly, he concludes, AI can still be a 'transformative tool'.
