The Honorable ChatGPT: How AI Systems Could Alter and Perhaps Improve the Judiciary
By Kevin Frazier*
“Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules, they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules, but it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ball game to see the umpire.”[1]
Chief Justice John Roberts made this oft-quoted remark during his confirmation hearing back in 2005.[2] Perhaps he didn’t realize that less than twenty years later, umpires may have one of their most important roles — calling balls and strikes — replaced by an automated system.