Artificial intelligence, before the rule is settled
What a magistrate may safely do while the judicial policy is still being finished.
Law is not just a profession. It is a promise to protect what is right.
“The courts are independent and subject only to the Constitution and the law.” Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, section 165(2)
At the Judicial Service Commission interviews on 5 October 2026, Mokgere Masipa J said that a draft policy on artificial intelligence had been placed before this year’s Judges’ Conference, and that it was being finalised after concerns about governance and data security. The Conference asked the Judiciary Administration and Information Technology Steering Committee to complete the draft, and to distinguish permitted use from prohibited use, with human oversight kept at the centre.
A magistrate remains responsible for the facts found, the law applied, and the order made. Until the draft policy is issued as a judicial instrument, the safe course is the ordinary one. Primary sources should be read. Citations should be checked against the judgment or the statute. Reasons should be written by the officer who will sign them. A party who places an unverified generated citation before the court has placed no citation at all until it is produced.
There is a proper place for technology: transcription, listing, secure internal research, and the correction of formal errors. That place does not extend to credibility, sentence, or the grant or refusal of a protection order. In a domestic- violence file, a children’s matter, or an in-camera criminal
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proceeding, material placed on a public platform may leave the court. The Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 continues to apply.
A note from Neelan Karikan. A tool may help to find a section. The reason, and the signature, remain the magistrate’s. We say this with respect for colleagues who are already using these tools carefully.