Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a Tribunal Case

Are you thinking about using AI to help with your tribunal case?

If you plan to use AI tools, including AI chatbots, to research or help prepare for your case before one of our tribunals, you should read the information below carefully.

You should also read Tribunals Ontario’s Practice Direction on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Tribunal Proceedings.

We recognize that some parties, representatives, witnesses and legal professionals may use AI tools to assist them with research or to prepare documents for tribunal proceedings.

While AI tools can provide useful help in some circumstances, they should be used with caution.

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence, or AI, refers to computer systems that can perform complex tasks normally done by human reasoning. Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is a type of AI that creates content based on instructions, or prompts, from users. The unique aspect of Gen AI is that it can create new content (text, images, video, audio). Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude are common examples of Gen AI.

Gen AI chatbots, like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT, are not search engines and they may not search authoritative databases for answers. Instead, they generate content based on the information they were trained on and the prompts they receive. As a result, AI-generated content may sound correct even when it is inaccurate.

Can I use AI for my case?

You can use AI to help with your case, but you should exercise caution, understand the risks, and carefully check everything the AI tool produces. You are responsible for making sure any information you submit to the tribunal is accurate, complete, relevant, and appropriate for your case, even if AI helped prepare it. Always cross-check the information against reliable databases (like CanLII) to ensure it is accurate and trustworthy. This ensures tribunal proceedings are fair and reliable.

What are the risks of using AI?

AI can be useful, but it also has risks.

• AI is not a substitute for legal advice, professional representation or independent research.
• AI tools may create cases, laws, quotations, or legal sources that do not exist. These are sometimes referred to as “hallucinations.”
• AI may provide incorrect or misleading information about the law, tribunal procedures, or relevant legal principles.
• AI-generated documents can be excessively long, repetitive, or include information that is not relevant to the issues in dispute. This can make it difficult for the tribunal to understand what you are trying to tell them. Some tribunals also have rules about how long submissions can be which the AI tool may not know. Adjudicators may also provide specific directions to the parties which the AI tool may not know or know how to incorporate in its produced content.
• AI tools generate content based on patterns in data from many different sources, including websites, social media posts, news articles, and other publicly available content. AI may present opinions, assumptions, or incorrect information as though they are facts.
• Some AI tools store information that users enter. That information could then be repeated in response to questions from other users. As a result, anything you put into an AI chatbot could become publicly known, including your own or someone else’s private or confidential information.
• Tribunal adjudicators may give less weight to submissions or evidence that contain inaccurate, misleading, unsupported, or fabricated material.

How can I verify the information from AI?

Before filing a document that was prepared, reviewed, or edited using AI, you should carefully review the entire document to ensure that:

• All facts are accurate.
• All dates, names, and references are correct.
• Any legislation, cases, policies, authorities or tribunal rules cited actually exist, are accurate and relevant, and support the information you provided. You should verify the case law by going directly to trusted sources, such as court or tribunal websites, or recognized legal databases like CanLII. You should verify tribunal information, such as tribunal rules, by going directly to tribunal websites.
• The document accurately reflects your position and instructions and the document accurately reflects any evidence that is tendered, if applicable.
• The information is current and applies to your case.

If you notice that your document contains an error after filing the document, contact the tribunal to inform the tribunal of the error.

Do Tribunals Ontario adjudicators use AI?

Tribunal decisions are made by people, not AI.

Tribunal members hear cases and make decisions based on the evidence and submissions provided by parties. They do not use AI to write decisions or analyze evidence. Tribunal members are fully accountable for their decision-making.

In short …

Tribunals Ontario does not prohibit the use of AI tools to assist in preparing documents. However, parties and representatives remain fully responsible for ensuring any document filed with the tribunal is accurate, complete, and appropriate. Information generated by AI should always be independently reviewed and verified by a human before it is submitted.