Confidentiality and use of artificial intelligence (AI)
Confidentiality and use of artificial intelligence (AI)
Coroner’s Directions on the use of Artificial Intelligence
Confidentiality and uploading documents into AI systems
• The documents disclosed to you by the Court, and the information contained within them, are provided solely for the purposes of the inquest. Unless such information was already in your possession or is otherwise in the public domain, it must be treated as confidential.
• You must not upload any inquest documents, or information contained within them, to any open-source artificial intelligence platform or infrastructure hosted on a public or hybrid cloud environment.
• The Court will regard the uploading of inquest documents to open-source AI tools as a breach of confidentiality. The only exception is where a closed-source AI system is used within a secure and controlled network environment that adequately protects the confidentiality of the material.
AI generated legal submissions
Interested Persons may use artificial intelligence tools to assist with legal research and when crafting their written submissions provided such use is undertaken responsibly. Care must be taken to ensure that the Court is not misled, whether deliberately or inadvertently, by submissions, legal propositions, or purported authorities that are inaccurate, fictitious, or generated as a result of AI hallucinations.
Any person who uses AI to produce submissions to the court or a skeleton argument of law must independently verify the accuracy of all factual submissions, any statutory material cited and any legal authorities relied upon before presenting them to the Court.
No legal authority should be cited unless the person relying upon it has verified that it is a genuine judicial decision and that it supports, or is at least arguably capable of supporting, the proposition for which it is cited.
Where AI has been used to produce arguments of law the document must include a statement by the author confirming that they have personally reviewed any legal authority or statutory provision relied upon and can confirm that it supports the proposition of law for which it is cited.
A self-represented Interested Person bears the same responsibility for the content and accuracy of their written and oral submissions as legal representatives acting on behalf of Interested Persons.
Length and content of submissions
Written submission or skeleton arguments put before the Coroner must not exceed 15 pages of A4 (when set in a font of no less than 12 pitch and 1.5 line spaced) unless the Coroner presiding directs a different page length is to apply.
If it is deemed necessary to present a longer written submission the permission of the Coroner presiding must first be obtained before filing and serving the document. Applications for such permission must be made in writing, on no more than two sides of A4 (when set in a font of no less than 12 pitch and 1.5 line spaced) and explain the reasons why it is said that an extended submission is necessary.
Where a legal authority is cited in any submission it must include a reference to the paragraph number of the judgment that contains the proposition of law the legal authority is said to establish.
Submissions to the court in breach of the above directions may not be read by the Coroner. Alternatively, written submissions which do not comply with these directions may be returned to the author directing amendment and compliance.
