{"id":110508,"date":"2025-03-14T13:03:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T21:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/03\/14\/state-supreme-court-invents-fake-ai-reporters-to-explain-its-rulings\/"},"modified":"2025-03-14T13:03:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T21:03:05","slug":"state-supreme-court-invents-fake-ai-reporters-to-explain-its-rulings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/03\/14\/state-supreme-court-invents-fake-ai-reporters-to-explain-its-rulings\/","title":{"rendered":"State Supreme Court Invents Fake AI Reporters To \u2018Explain\u2019 Its Rulings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a move blending Black Mirror<\/em> and North Korean state media, the Arizona Supreme Court has invented a pair of AI reporters to deliver short-form press releases dressed up as news reports. Daniel and Victoria \u2014 two very much unreal talking heads \u2014 will deliver \u201cclear, accessible explanations of case decisions and opinions\u201d according to the Court\u2019s press release<\/a>, likely prepared by some latter-day John Henry announcing their own impending replacement.<\/p>\n

Or maybe they had generative AI write that too. <\/p>\n

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K. <\/p>\n

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That\u2019s Victoria explaining that stores need to be reasonably safe. Victoria reports that the case involved a display that arguably created a tripping hazard, and confirms that science fiction was wrong. If we ever need to defeat the robots, we don\u2019t have to ask them to define \u201clove,\u201d we just have to make them explain Palsgraf<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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This initiative advances the Supreme Court\u2019s commitment to helping the public understand Arizona\u2019s judiciary and the administration of justice. Since October, the Court has issued news releases alongside case decisions and opinions, summarizing cases and explaining the reasoning behind rulings. The addition of video explanations further enhances public understanding and exemplifies the Court\u2019s innovative approach to communicating with Arizonans.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If the Arizona Supreme Court wants to \u201cpivot to video,\u201d they should at least do it honestly<\/em>. Hire an actual reporter. Bring in legal analysts who know how to break down judicial decisions for the public. Maybe even hire a real spokesperson who can answer questions. But that\u2019s sort of the problem\u2026 courts usually don\u2019t get into the official news spin business because they don\u2019t have the resources. AI gives them the opportunity to get into that space and in one of the worst ways possible.<\/p>\n

Because while the videos open up with an admission that they\u2019re AI-generated mouthpieces of the courts, the format can easily mislead the public that this talking bot represents independent analysis as opposed to a court-produced sizzle reel.<\/p>\n

Moreover, as official statements summarizing opinions, these AI-generated \u201cnews\u201d segments never dig deeper and never challenge the court\u2019s reasoning. It\u2019s a uniquely superficial and controlled way to shape public perception of the judiciary. Judges complain that the public should \u201cread the opinion<\/a>\u201d and that criticism is unfair because they\u2019re delicate geniuses dealing in nuance<\/a>, meanwhile this court opens the door to crunching opinions into one-minute capsules.<\/p>\n

Tripping hazards are straightfoward cases, but judicial opinions in big cases don\u2019t always say what they actually mean<\/a>. Strategic phrasing, omissions, and intellectual gymnastics designed to justify a pre-determined outcome while pretending it\u2019s all about neutral legal principles. AI, of course, will struggle to catch this in the best of circumstances. When the AI works for the court<\/em>, it just makes laundering that subterfuge into \u201cnews\u201d even easier.<\/p>\n

Courts suffer from a lack of public trust due in part to a lack of accessible and understandable legal news. From that perspective, one can sympathize with the Arizona initiative. But encouraging local media to cover the courts and the inviting area law faculty to speak to the public \u2014 to get people smarter about how the law works AS IS \u2014 is a lot better than crafting oversimplified and dumbed-down AI slop. Accessibility often comes at the cost of substantive complexity, but if too much of the latter is sacrificed, the rule of law doesn\u2019t survive the trade.<\/p>\n

To be fair, Arizona is probably acting in good faith and might not ask Daniel and Victoria to give the TikTok treatment to its most consequential and controversial cases. But this is about opening the door and legitimating court-controlled AI spin as a public service just invites future abuse. <\/p>\n

And pretty soon we\u2019re listening to Victoria explain how the Constitution always<\/em> contemplated deporting citizens who call Elon Musk a dick<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post State Supreme Court Invents Fake AI Reporters To \u2018Explain\u2019 Its Rulings<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a move blending Black Mirror<\/em> and North Korean state media, the Arizona Supreme Court has invented a pair of AI reporters to deliver short-form press releases dressed up as news reports. Daniel and Victoria \u2014 two very much unreal talking heads \u2014 will deliver \u201cclear, accessible explanations of case decisions and opinions\u201d according to the Court\u2019s press release<\/a>, likely prepared by some latter-day John Henry announcing their own impending replacement.<\/p>\n

Or maybe they had generative AI write that too. <\/p>\n

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K. <\/p>\n