On 30 April 2026, the internationally recognized publishing house Cambridge University Press published a collective monograph “The Cambridge Handbook of AI and Technologies in Courts”, which was led by researchers from the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences (hereinafter – the Law Institute). In this book, 72 authors from 25 countries examine the use of AI and digital technologies in courts across domestic and regional jurisdictions in Europe, North and South America, the Asia-Pacific region, and Africa. Among the contributors are representatives from Lithuania, including the Law Institute and Vilnius University.

In many countries (from Brazil to Poland and Lithuania), artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in courts, particularly for auxiliary technical tasks such as transcribing court hearings, assisting with the anonymisation of judgments, and similar functions. There are also already initial attempts to apply the capabilities of artificial intelligence in judicial work, including analysing case materials and assisting in the drafting and adoption of court decisions. It is hoped that these innovations will help reduce workloads, especially where resources are limited and court caseloads are overwhelming.

In this Handbook, scholars, judges, policymakers, legal professionals, and technologists from more than 60 different international academic institutions, public administration, and business organisations provide an interdisciplinary and cross-jurisdictional perspective on how artificial intelligence is deployed in courts, what legal and practical challenges this raises, and how judicial institutions are responding to the opportunities and risks posed by AI use in courts

The central insight that emerges from the forty-five chapters of this Handbook is that the impact of AI on courts cannot be understood merely as a question of technological progress or administrative modernisation. When AI is used by judges, this is a question about the future of justice. The deployment of AI in judicial systems touches the very foundations of the rule of law, fundamental rights, democratic accountability, institutional legitimacy, and public trust, and requires us to rethink the very nature of courts. If AI systems are used not only to assist the court‘s administrative tasks but to take judicial decisions – if ‘robo-judging’ moves from science fiction to reality – then we must ask: what remains of the judicial function?

Therefore, each chapter examines not just how AI can be deployed in courts, but also what courts must do to ensure that AI tools enhance, rather than erode judicial values, justice and the rule of law. The editors of this internationally significant publication – Dr. Monika Žalnieriūtė and Dr. Agnė Limantė, senior researchers at the Law Institute – note that upon completing the book it became clear that the future of courts and AI is not a question of “if”, but “how”. The integration of AI and digital technologies into courts is no longer theoretical, peripheral, or experimental – it is global, active, and transformative

The preparation of this book was supported by the Research Council of Lithuania under the project Artificial Intelligence in Courts: Challenges and Opportunities (TeismAI), agreement number: S-MIP-23-73.

The book can be accessed here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-handbook-of-ai-and-technologies-in-courts/C16E665E36D28143B92988D28D7A12BF

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