Judiciary
A former Supreme Court Judge, has warned that integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the judiciary could pose serious challenges, including the fabrication of legal authorities and threats to equal protection.
Retired Justice Amina Adamu-Augie issued the warning in Birnin Kebbi while delivering a keynote at Law Week organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Kebbi Branch.
According to her, the law and the judiciary are not mathematics; they are guided by reasoning, fairness, and equity.
Citing cases of fabricated authorities by lawyers in advanced countries, Adamu-Augie said legal practitioners must work harder to verify authorities cited in court.
The former judge said one of the risks “AI poses is” the fabrication and hallucination of authorities.
“In 2023, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a passenger named Roberto Mata sued the airline Avianc.
“He alleged that a metal serving cart had struck his knee during a flight — an ordinary personal-injury claim, the sort filed every day in every jurisdiction in the world.
“Mr Mata’s lawyers were an experienced firm. The lawyer who conducted the research had been at the Bar for 30 years. When the airline applied to have the case dismissed, his attorneys filed a response brief. The brief was confident and well-written.
“It cited cases in support of its arguments — judicial decisions complete with names, citations, and quoted passages, every one apparently directly on point. There was a single difficulty. The cases did not exist. They had never been decided. No court had ever written them,” she sated.
Adamu+Augie explained that the lawyer, under pressure and short of time, had asked an AI chatbot to perform his legal research, and the chatbot did precisely what such systems “are built to do.”
She noted that it produced text that looked exactly like a correct answer, adding that it invented six judicial authorities.
“It gave them plausible names. It gave them plausible citations. It even composed convincing quotations attributed to judges who had never said any such thing.
“The court was not amused. It sanctioned them, and it observed, in very strong language, that the episode promotes cynicism about the legal profession and the judicial system itself,” she said.
Justice Adamu-Augie also noted that AI could introduce bias, erode reasoning, threaten confidentiality, and undermine legal professional privilege.
She said AI could affect the public hearing principle under Section 36(3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution, and highlighted the limits of machine conscience and the irreplaceable role of the judge.
“A judge does far more than interpret statutes and apply precedents. A judge listens, observes human conduct, and weighs conscience, equity, and the peculiar circumstances of each case,” she said.
In spite of the challenges, Adamu-Augie noted that AI could strengthen the judiciary through research, case management, reduced delays, and greater access to justice for ordinary Nigerians.
“But it must remain exactly what it was intended to be — a tool in the service of justice, not a substitute for justice,” she said.
In his remarks, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, said the judiciary and lawyers must be properly guided on the use of AI to guard against errors.
He pledged the Federal Government’s readiness to partner with the judiciary to improve the welfare of lawyers.
In his remarks, Gov. Nasir Idris of Kebbi, said his administration had resolved many challenges facing the judiciary in the state, lifted the embargo on the recruitment of lawyers, and increased all allowances for judicial officers.
Idris promised to continue supporting the judiciary and improving the welfare of lawyers to ensure the people of the state get justice.
The immediate past National President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Mai-Kyau, commended the state government for supporting the Kebbi NBA branch and upgrading judicial infrastructure. (NAN)
A.I
June 8, 2026
Tags: Gov. Nasir Idris NBA Retired Justice Amina Adamu-Augie Yakubu Mai-Kyau