He cited the challenges posed by AI developments and the legal sector's ability to keep up
Sir Geoffrey Vos, the master of the rolls, cautioned at a prominent law and technology event in London that human oversight of decisions made by artificial intelligence may soon become impractical due to the rapid pace of technological advancements.
At the ninth “Legal Geek” lawtech networking event, Sir Geoffrey emphasized the challenges posed by AI developments and the legal sector’s ability to keep up. The Law Society Gazette reported that Sir Geoffrey expressed concerns over the effectiveness of legislation like the European Union’s new Artificial Intelligence Act, which aims to ensure human accountability in AI-driven decisions. He predicted that these measures would be overtaken by the advancements in AI technology.
“While lawyers and judges will want to retain complete human oversight of these technologies, they may not actually be able to do so without expending enormous amounts of time and money to verify AI's work,” Sir Geoffrey stated. He suggested that AI tools will be capable of addressing and resolving certain legal matters as efficiently as humans, but with greater speed and lower costs.
Sir Geoffrey raised the issue of economic feasibility, pointing out that even if laws prohibit machines from making certain decisions, the legal accountability placed on humans could force them to accept AI-generated results due to the sheer cost and impracticality of verifying them. He questioned, “Once the human lawyer or judge is faced with something that may take days to check—or simply be uncheckable—what choice do they have but to accept the advice or verdict of the machine?”
The speech also touched on advancements in digital trade and commerce, highlighting the slow progress toward a paperless future. Despite strides made by the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce in clarifying digital property laws, Sir Geoffrey called for international cooperation to align private law systems across mainstream commercial jurisdictions. Such alignment, he argued, is necessary to facilitate the global adoption of paperless trade involving digital assets, digital money, and physical goods.
He concluded his address by calling on legal professionals to strike a balance between regulation and innovation. “Tech and the law need to be seen together and work together,” he said, urging lawyers to ensure that regulations promote rather than obstruct technological progress.
