Judge at risk of disciplinary sanction if he uses Ai irresponsibly

The magistrate who irresponsibly uses artificial intelligence systems risks disciplinary sanction, for a violation to be placed in the category of inexcusable negligence. This is the provisional conclusion of an affair that has affected the Supreme Court, a Court of Appeal, Parliament, the Ministry of Justice and, now, the SCCM.

Upstream a controversial second-degree ruling on tax evasion, a pronouncement that saw the Court of Cassation confirm the conviction for the individual, but at the same time reform the contested measure regarding confiscation for equivalent. In fact, the Court branded as 'non-existent' the references to the case law of the Supreme Court contained in the appeal sentence.

This can be read in the Ministry of Justice's written reply to a question by Enrico Costa, asking the inspectors of Via Arenula to check whether, as is likely, the errors were caused by careless use of the Ia and, if so, to consider initiating disciplinary action.

The Ministry of Justice emphasises the delicacy of the matter and warns that it has asked the president of the Court of Appeal, which has reconstructed the case in the terms described. For the ministry, further investigations are needed to ascertain the existence of "grave omissions or inertia, revealing inexcusable negligence on the part of the magistrate who drafted the grounds". If ascertained, 'the Ministry of Justice will take the appropriate measures without hesitation'.

In its reply, the ministry then recalls that, on the basis of the Artificial Intelligence Act (No. 132 of 2025), the use of Ia in the decision-making activities of the judiciary, in particular as regards the interpretation and application of the law, the assessment of facts and evidence, and the adoption of measures, all of which are always and only reserved to the judicial authority. At risk, otherwise, is the quality and reliability of judicial action.