Sir Geoffrey Vos, who holds the most senior position in England’s civil justice system as Master of the Rolls, believes AI could soon adjudicate civil cases.
Judge Vos stoked the AI debate with his take on the tech’s role in the judicial system. According to WIRED, a recent visit to a court in Shenzhen, China, convinced Vos that AI could one day play a major role in the civil court system. Unlike in England, where guidance advises judges to confine their AI use to administrative tasks, civil disputes at that Shenzhen court are already being decided by judges with heavy assistance from AI.
Vos believes courts around the world should consider following China’s lead. Many legal systems are being overwhelmed with a flood of cases spurred by people’s access to AI. In fact, Vos says England is seeing a 10% rise in the number of county court cases started every year, with AI likely to send that number even higher. Vos believes AI can help courts handle cases faster and keep up with the growing caseload.
“What most people desperately want in civil disputes is resolution,” Vos told WIRED. “The question is, where is the line to be drawn?”
Interestingly, Vos believes that access to AI, along with the associated rise in legal files, is ultimately a good thing. Vos also made it clear in his comments to WIRED that, while AI can certainly lead to frivolous claims, it would be a mistake to assume all AI-involved claims are bogus.
I think it’s a mistake to assume that just because a claim is created by AI, it’s totally frivolous.
In a way it’s a good problem, because it shows there’s greater access to justice because of technology. One of the problems with justice in the past is that it’s only been available to rich people.
If people have a problem sufficient to bother ChatGPT, they probably genuinely think they have a claim. When you explore their problem in detail, you might find it is actually a bit different, but it may still be a legal problem and may still be reasonable for them to have wanted to bring it to attention.
People are not generally time wasters. They’re not generally trying to make trouble.
Vos’ take on AI’s potential role in legal cases is an interesting one, and sure to face pushback from certain circles. Nonetheless, it illustrates the degree to which AI is shaping industries and professions outside of the traditional tech industry.
In many ways, the challenges legal systems face are similar to those of the cybersecurity industry. For much of 2026, the cybersecurity industry has been nearly overwhelmed with a glut of vulnerabilities discovered by AI. In response, many developers and companies are turning to AI to help triage the issues, deploy solutions, and proactively investigate codebases to find and fix issues before bad actors exploit them.
The legal system, and many other sectors, may find that relying on AI is the best way to stay ahead of the increased workloads caused by the very same AI.