Skip to content

Regulation Tracker / Australia

The use of generative AI: guidelines for judicial officers

Queensland Courts · Queensland

last revised 2024-05-01last verified 2026-10-071 versioncountry page →

GuidanceIn forceVerification dutyConfidentialityProhibitionSupervision

map categories:Judges' use of AIAI barred from deciding casesCourts' own AI deploymentDuty to verify AI outputClient data in AI toolsSupervision of AI work

Queensland Courts' guidelines for judicial officers on using generative AI, adopted across all Queensland courts and tribunals as the companion to the May 2024 non-lawyer guidelines. Seven guidelines: understand AI's limitations, uphold confidentiality and suppression, ensure accountability and accuracy, be aware of ethical issues, maintain security, take responsibility, and be alert to court users' AI use.

Applies to
judges, court-staff
Effective
01 May 2024
Current version
Companion to the May 2024 non-lawyer guidelines · 01 May 2024
Last verified
07 Oct 2026
Official text
www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/890428/the-use-of-ge…

What the document requires

  • Guideline 1: do not treat chatbots as reliable research; they predict likely words, not accurate answers, and may have limited Australian-law training data (paras 7–11).
  • Guideline 2: do not enter private, confidential or suppressed information into a public chatbot; treat anything input as published to the world; disable chat history where possible (paras 12–14).
  • Guideline 3: the accuracy of any chatbot output must be checked before use; chatbots have invented fictitious cases, citations and quotes (paras 15–17).
  • Guideline 6: 'AI tools should not be used for decision-making nor used to develop or prepare reasons for decision'; judicial reasoning must be done by the judicial officer (para 25).
  • Guideline 6: the judicial officer is personally responsible for material produced in their name and must ensure staff use is consistent with core judicial values (paras 23–24, 26).
  • Guideline 7: lawyers should be required to confirm they have independently verified AI-generated research or citations; the court may inquire what accuracy checks were made (paras 30–34).

Version history

VersionDateWhat changedSource
Companion to the May 2024 non-lawyer guidelinescurrent2024-05-01The document moved to a new courts.qld.gov.au path (/0004/890428/, previously /0009/879714/) and was read in full for the first time on 2026-10-07; the date remains inferred (month only; the PDF carries no date on its face). Adopted by the Supreme, District, Planning and Environment, Magistrates, Land, Childrens and Industrial Courts, QIRC and QCAT.official · archive

Sources

Cite this record

SafeLegalAI Legal AI Regulation Tracker, "The use of generative AI: guidelines for judicial officers" (Queensland Courts, Companion to the May 2024 non-lawyer guidelines, 2024-05-01), safelegalai.com/regulation/australia/au-qld-courts-judicial-officers-genai-guidelines (accessed 2026-10-07). Data: CC BY 4.0.

More official documents in Australia