Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he warns that AI’s usefulness makes it easy to overlook its dangers. While it can be invaluable in helping judges navigate vast quantities of material, particularly in complex fraud cases, he cautions that “artificial intelligence is not human intelligence” and lacks one of the most important qualities of a judge: “an ability to empathise with human beings, with their aspirations, their failings and their follies”.

Judging, he argues, is not a mechanical exercise. “What judges do cannot be reduced to mere analytical logic,” he writes, adding that “impression as well as moral and emotional response are important”. AI-generated material must therefore be checked not only for accuracy but also for “nuance, context and moral sensitivity”.

Lord Sumption is sceptical of claims that AI will transform the administration of justice, suggesting ministers may be “disappointed” by the scale of any gains. More importantly, he argues, public confidence in the courts depends on decisions being made by human beings. “People will not accept adverse decisions which seem to come from a machine as readily as they will accept them from a human being,” he writes.

He concludes that courts must be transparent about any use of AI and insists that judging remains “an inherently human business” because “the work of a judge can never be impersonal”.