In 2026, US federal courts are drowning in AI-generated documents. Judge Maritza Braswell in Colorado spends her days sifting through piles of chatbot-written filings – filled with fake citations and hallucinated legal reasoning. The phenomenon exploded as AI became cheap and accessible, enabling even unlicensed operators to churn out lawsuits at the cost of a few API calls.
This isn't just a US problem. Europe and Italy face the same risk. Our judicial systems are already slow and overloaded: imagine an avalanche of automated legal documents that judges must still review. The result? Wasted resources, multiplied delays, and a further erosion of trust in justice.
There's another side: tech companies providing these tools – from large language models to document-generation platforms – still operate in a regulatory vacuum. No liability for output. No filtering obligations. The business model shifts social costs onto courts and ordinary users.
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Our position is clear: AI without accountability is a double-edged sword for Italian SMEs
We at Meteora Web use AI daily to optimize workflows: drafting, data analysis, automation. But we have a firm rule: every output must be verified by a human who knows the domain. We never delegate final judgment to a machine. Our clients know we don't cut corners. Yet what's happening in courts is the exact opposite: produce without control, sign without reading, spray and pray.
For Italian SMEs, the issue is twofold. On one hand, a court system clogged with AI-junk means longer times for legitimate claims. On the other, the risk of being dragged into an AI-generated lawsuit is real. Today you might receive a complaint citing nonexistent case law. You still have to pay a lawyer to respond. That's a hidden tax on innovation.
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The EU AI Act is a first step, but it's too soft on misuse in the legal sector. We need a clear rule: anyone who generates a legal document with AI is responsible for its content as if they wrote it by hand. No more liability loopholes. And platforms offering legal text generation must implement mandatory automatic filters.
We're not fans of bureaucracy for its own sake. But when technology is used to pollute the justice system, rules are needed. To protect those who do real work – and Italy has many digital artisans – from those who produce only noise.
