Guides · Justice

Judges, prosecutors and court staff: using ChatGPT and other AI tools with case files

Gonzalo Sabater, lawyer · 28 October 2026 · 6 minutes

Summarizing a long case file, organizing the facts of a case, drafting a procedural order or spotting inconsistencies between statements: AI can save courts and prosecutors’ offices a great deal of time. But case files contain data about parties, victims, witnesses and children, much of it highly sensitive.

This article is general information. Before using any tool, follow the AI and IT policies of your court service or prosecuting authority.

What applies

• Judicial guidance: courts increasingly publish AI guidance. In England and Wales, the judicial guidance on AI warns judicial office holders not to enter private or confidential information into public AI chatbots. The Council of Europe’s CEPEJ adopted a European ethical charter on the use of AI in judicial systems.
• Confidentiality and data protection: official secrecy and data protection rules (the GDPR and the Law Enforcement Directive in the EU, the UK GDPR in the UK) apply to case files.
• EU AI Act: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 treats AI systems intended to assist a judicial authority in researching and interpreting facts and the law as high-risk (Annex III, point 8). The decision remains the judge’s.

A careful way to work

1. Use AI to organize and draft, not to decide.
2. Remove people’s data before sending: names, ID numbers, addresses, phone numbers, accounts, plates and case numbers.
3. Take extra care with victims and children, including indirect identifiers such as family ties, school or a small town.
4. Review the result, especially scanned or handwritten material.
5. Use only approved tools on official devices.

Where Maskwise helps

Maskwise finds names, ID numbers, addresses, phone numbers, accounts and case and docket numbers, scanned documents included, and checks every copy. It has no internet access, so case files never leave the computer. Where your organization allows it, it can be the step before any approved AI tool.