Why a Kenyan High Court struck out an AI-generated court filing
A Kenyan High Court judge has struck out a Notice of Motion application after finding that the documents filed were computer-generated and did not meet basic procedural requirements.
In a ruling delivered virtually, Justice Bahati Mwamuye said the application by Nayan Mansukhlal Savla against the Commission on Administrative Justice and the Kenya Psychiatric Association failed to comply with the Civil Procedure Rules at the Milimani Law Courts, local media Capital FM reports.
The court found that the Notice of Motion did not meet Order 51 Rule 13 of the Civil Procedure Rules of Kenya (2010), which requires a specific notice statement to appear at the foot of every motion application. The supporting affidavit was also found to be defective for not complying with Order 19, Rules 4 and 5.
Justice Mwamuye said both the motion and the affidavit appeared to be machine-generated, raising broader concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in legal filings.
“Computer-generated documents or outputs of ‘artificial intelligence’ cannot be a proper substitute for human-drawn documents,” the judge said. “A party must draw and file their documents on their own accord and by their own hand or through their legal representatives.”
While the judge noted that the defects were largely technical, he ruled they were serious enough to warrant striking out the application. However, the petitioner was allowed to file a fresh application and affidavit that meet the required legal standards.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
