Policy paper

AI action plan for justice: one year on

Published 24 September 2026

Foreword by Minister Richards

Our justice system faces many challenges. This government is determined not simply to stabilise our prisons and courts, but to fundamentally modernise our justice system so it is fit for the 21st century and, once again, serving our society and economy effectively. We know that to achieve this aim, technology must be at the heart of everything we do.   

That is why I am so pleased the Prime Minister and Justice Secretary have asked me to lead on technology within the department and, crucially, the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence across the justice system. The Ministry of Justice is a pioneering department across government on AI deployment and is setting a model for responsible adoption in justice systems globally. But there is always more we can do.  

Since the AI Action Plan for Justice was launched in the summer of 2025, I have seen first-hand how AI is helping build a swifter, more effective and more accessible justice system. Delivering that ambition requires more than new technology. It requires the ability to move quickly from ideas to implementation, while maintaining public trust and ensuring that ethics, fairness and safety are at the heart of our approach. The Justice AI Unit was established for this express purpose, to responsibly drive AI deployment alongside our digital and data science teams.  

Our flagship Justice Transcribe tool has transformed workflows for probation staff. It has already transcribed over 1.5 million meetings, empowering staff to focus more on the rehabilitative work that reduces reoffending and protects the public. 

We are publishing this update to be transparent with the public about what we have achieved and where we want to focus for the next year. We will continue scaling AI tools which support our frontline services, while supporting our workforce to adopt such tools safely and responsibly. As AI capabilities continue to advance, so too do the risks they present, and we must be ready to respond. That is why we have committed to a new strategic priority to strengthen our response to emerging AI risks.  

We are immensely proud of the progress we have made so far, while recognising there is much more to do. It is with great determination that I intend to drive the next phase of this work forward.

Jake Richards MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sentencing, Human Rights and Technology

Lead Ministry of Justice Minister for AI

Introduction

A year ago, the Ministry of Justice published the AI Action Plan for Justice, setting out the department’s approach to responsible and proportionate AI Adoption across courts, tribunals, prisons, probation, and other operational services and supporting functions. Underpinning the plan is the belief that AI can help deliver swifter, fairer and more accessible justice for all.  

Our priorities for the first year were to establish strong foundations, build capability, and deliver early wins. We have now entered the next phase of this work, where our focus is on scaling what works to improve outcomes more widely across the justice system. 

The AI Action Plan for Justice was structured around three strategic priorities:

1. Strengthen our foundations 
2. Embed AI across the justice system
3. Invest in our people and partners

This update sets out:

• Progress against each strategic priority and our priorities for the next phase of delivery. All future work will be taken forward in line with appropriate engagement and consultation requirements, including with trade unions where relevant. 
• A new strategic priority designed to strengthen our response to emerging AI risks.

One year on: Progress and priorities for the next phase of delivery

This section provides an update on progress against each of the plan’s three strategic priorities and sets out what we intend to achieve in the second year of the plan. The Justice AI Unit’s interactive AI Action Plan Explorer provides further detail on progress against individual actions.

Priority 1: Strengthen our foundations (Actions 1.1–1.7)

What we committed to

We set out actions to strengthen leadership and governance, embed clear standards on ethics and transparency, improve data and digital infrastructure, and ensure that our approach to procurement supports the delivery of AI-enabled solutions.

Progress and key successes

In Year 1, we established the leadership, technical and commercial foundations needed to scale AI delivery. In particular:

• We established clear strategic leadership for AI via the Justice AI Unit and the departmental Chief AI Officer. The Justice AI Unit is recognised across government as a leading centre of AI capability, powered by multidisciplinary technical teams and the first forward-deployed engineers in government.
• We established key governance and oversight mechanisms to ensure accountable and transparent AI deployment. This included a cross-departmental, cross-functional AI Steering Group and a Risk Working Group. We also created an internal portfolio tracking tool that provides ministers and staff with visibility of AI initiatives across the department, supporting senior oversight, risk management and collaboration between teams. An ethics-led approach has also been embedded via the MOJ AI and Data Science Ethics Framework. The MOJ requires all AI tools to be tested and evaluated for accuracy, bias, fairness, security and reliability before widescale deployment, with ongoing performance monitoring in place.
• We secured strategic partnerships with leading technology providers, including Microsoft and OpenAI. Through our partnership with OpenAI, the MOJ became the first government department to roll out an enterprise version of ChatGPT, eventually securing OpenAI’s commitment to store the data of its British business customers on UK soil for the first time.

Priorities moving forward   

Our priorities for Year 2 are to:

• Continue to embed governance, ethics and assurance consistently across the system. 
• Improve secure access to shared AI infrastructure and services. 
• Explore options for enterprise-wide agreements with further vendors to support a more diverse, multi-vendor AI portfolio.

Priority 2: Embed AI across the justice system (Actions 2.1–2.7)

What we committed to

We committed to embedding AI across frontline, operational, citizen-facing and enabling functions to support justice outcomes. We set out a phased approach to adoption, using a clear ‘Scan, Pilot, Scale’ methodology to ensure affordability, safety and user needs are considered before wide-scale deployment.  

We also committed to integrating AI into our major transformation programmes and developing a suite of core AI products to address common, cross‑cutting challenges across the justice system.

Progress and key successes

In Year 1, we moved from exploration to piloting and live use. The capabilities we have introduced are helping to address common challenges and support the department’s response to acute pressures across the justice system. They are improving productivity and reducing administrative burdens, providing staff with better information and insight, and supporting stronger decision-making and prioritisation. 

In particular:

• Through the ‘AI for All’ programme, we scaled general-purpose AI productivity tools across the MOJ, providing all staff with access to a secure enterprise version of Copilot Chat, alongside targeted, ongoing rollouts of Copilot for Microsoft 365 and ChatGPT Enterprise. These tools support everyday tasks such as summarisation, drafting and research.

• We made significant progress in speech, translation and audio processing, scaling our flagship tool, Justice Transcribe, to all probation service offices, all staff working in Approved Premises, and nationally to all judges in the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber).

Case study: Justice Transcribe

Justice Transcribe has transformed how probation staff capture and use information. Probation officers manage complex caseloads where timely, accurate record-keeping is essential to managing risk and supporting rehabilitation.  

Using speech recognition, this AI-powered tool transcribes, summarises and structures records from probation supervision sessions and case interactions. 

By reducing administrative burdens and improving the quality and consistency of case records, Justice Transcribe is enabling probation officers to spend more time on meaningful engagement and rehabilitative work. 

Following successful pilots, the tool has been scaled to over 12,000 probation officers and is delivering measurable impact. Over 1.5 million meetings were summarised between 7 October 2025 and 14 September 2026. View the latest Justice Transcribe statistics here. 

We are exploring the expansion of Justice Transcribe across other areas of the justice system, including courts.

• We advanced AI‑enabled search and knowledge retrieval, introducing tools that help staff access and interpret complex datasets and case material more quickly.
• We applied non‑generative AI to support frontline decision‑making with tools combining statistical modelling and data science now live across probation, prisons and courts. Examples include:
  • Violence in Prisons Estimator: A tool which uses predictive analytics to assess the risk of involvement in violent incidents in custody and inform safer, more targeted management.
  • Acquisitive Crime Mapping: A tool which matches GPS location data of people on probation with police crime data to support targeted investigation and prioritisation.
  • Online Probation Check-ins: An online check-in platform that uses facial recognition to support identity verification of people on probation.

• We remained agile as priorities evolved. Beyond the commitments set out in the Action Plan, we developed and deployed new capabilities to respond to emerging pressures across the justice system. This included:

  • Reducing releases from custody in error: The Digital Rapid Response Unit was established to develop digital and AI-powered products to help prevent the erroneous release of people from prison. Built at an unprecedented pace by forward-deployed engineers, new AI-enabled tools have been deployed across the estate, including tools that automatically extract and route key information to the right prison promptly, as well as data-linking tools that help prevent offenders from concealing information by using multiple aliases.
  • Tackling the Crown Court backlog: The MOJ is developing AI-enabled tools to identify case-readiness issues, help caseworkers prioritise the tasks needed to progress cases, and support better listing decisions. This includes reviewing the existing backlog to identify cases that may require intervention, could be resolved earlier or are ready to be listed. By helping cases progress more efficiently and making better use of available court capacity, these interventions aim to reduce delays and deliver swifter access to justice.
    
    Alongside this, we will work with industry and justice-sector partners to develop robust benchmarks and safe evaluation standards for AI in legal settings. This will allow us to test models consistently, understand their strengths and limitations, and build the evidence needed to support their safe and effective use across the justice system.

Priorities moving forward:

Our priorities for Year 2 are to:

• Embed and optimise general-purpose AI tools to deliver measurable, sustainable productivity gains across the MOJ.
• Continue to scale Justice Transcribe, exploring its wider application across other areas of the justice system.
• Scale higher‑impact automation, focusing on agent‑based tools for discrete, repetitive tasks with clear, measurable benefits.
• Strengthen delivery and engineering capability by expanding access to approved AI coding tools to support faster and safer modernisation of legacy systems.
• Explore new AI applications in areas such as learning and development for staff and offenders, as well as applications that could strengthen safety, security and operational oversight in prisons.
• Pilot and evaluate AI interventions to help reduce the Crown Court backlog and support faster case progression.

Priority 3: Invest in our people and partners (Actions 3.1–3.5)

What we committed to

We recognised that making the most of AI depends not just on the technology, but on the people who use, shape and deliver it. Our approach is deliberately people-centred, with a commitment to support our workforce through change and bring them with us on this journey, alongside sector partners, industry and trade unions.

Progress and key successes

In Year 1, we made strong progress in fostering the talent and partnerships needed to support AI delivery. In particular:

• We invested in talent pipelines and capability through fellowships, internships and targeted recruitment, attracting specialist AI expertise into the department. Justice AI Unit product teams are intentionally small, primarily technical and focused on delivery. The Unit’s multidisciplinary approach combines data science, engineering, policy and operational expertise, bringing together people who work directly with users to design, build and continuously improve products.
• We strengthened staff capability through organisation‑wide learning and upskilling. Targeted training and practical guidance have built confidence in using AI safely and effectively across the department. We saw particularly strong engagement with the government‑wide One Big Thing e‑learning initiative, focused on ‘AI for All’ in 2025-26.
• We have begun work to support leaders and staff to understand and prepare for the wider workforce implications of AI. This includes exploring how AI may influence roles, skills, ways of working and organisational design.
• We strengthened partnerships across the legal sector to support the development and adoption of legal technology, including AI-enabled tools, through our continued support for LawtechUK. In March 2026, the MOJ announced a further £4.5 million of funding over the next three years, building on the programme’s success in driving innovation, investment and technology adoption across the legal sector.

Case Study: LawtechUK

Established in 2019, LawtechUK is a MOJ-funded programme that supports the growth of the UK’s legal sector through mentoring, accelerator programmes, investor engagement and industry partnerships. It has helped to support a majority of the 315 recorded UK-founded ventures. In 2025, those companies attracted almost £189 million of investment, a 35% increase on the previous year. The additional £4.5 million investment will enable LawtechUK to continue supporting the development and adoption of legal technologies that benefit businesses, consumers and access to justice, while reinforcing the UK’s position as a global leader in legal technology.

• We worked closely with regulators and the legal sector to address uncertainty around AI innovation. This included announcing the AI Growth Lab at London Tech Week 2026, an advisory sandbox designed to accelerate the development and deployment of AI products.
  
  The legal services sector was selected as the first sector to participate, reflecting strong demand from industry for greater regulatory clarity around the use of AI. Through the Lab, regulators and innovators will work together to explore practical challenges associated with deploying AI in legal services, helping organisations understand how existing rules apply in practice, reducing uncertainty and enabling responsible innovation. 
  
  Beyond the Growth Lab, we are continuing to support companies to better understand the regulatory requirements that apply to emerging technologies. Legal technology companies can access rapid regulatory advice through the Regulatory Response Unit, alongside wider guidance and research from legal regulators.

Priorities moving forward:

Our priorities for Year 2 are to:

• Strengthen AI talent pipelines and capability, building on the success of our fellowships, internships, and other recruitment pathways. 
• Accelerate adoption by procuring a scalable AI adoption service that will deliver structured training, role-based learning and on-demand support, ensuring staff have the skills and confidence to use AI safely, effectively and responsibly.  
• Strengthen sector partnerships, including via continued support for LawtechUK and closer collaboration with industry, academia and regulators. 
• Drive forward new initiatives to support innovation, including the opening of the AI Growth Lab. 
• Develop a clearer view of how AI will affect future workforce needs to inform longer-term workforce planning.

Introducing a fourth strategic priority

While AI presents transformative opportunities for the justice system, it also poses new risks as capabilities become more sophisticated and widely available. Such risks include the misuse of AI to support criminal activity, the growing prevalence of synthetic and manipulated content, and increased demand on the justice system as AI tools change how citizens engage with justice services.  

These risks affect organisations across the justice system in different but interconnected ways, requiring a coordinated, cross-system response. We are therefore adding a fourth strategic priority to the AI Action Plan for Justice, building upon existing work with justice system partners.

Priority 4: Respond to emerging AI risks, including AI-enabled criminality

To deliver this new priority, we will:

4.1: Strengthen collaboration with cross-system partners to identify and escalate AI risks

We will continue our work to identify, assess and escalate emerging AI risks to the justice system, building a more systematic horizon-scanning capability. Working with justice system partners, we will also improve our understanding of AI-enabled criminality and how it may change patterns of offending and affect demand for justice services. 

We will collaborate through existing cross-system forums and partnerships to bring together operational, policy, analytical, and technical insight. This will help partners recognise emerging risks earlier, build a more consistent understanding of their likely impact on the justice system and identify where coordinated action is needed.

4.2: Collaborate with cross-system partners to develop tools, approaches and guidance to mitigate AI risks

We will work with partners across the justice system and wider government to mitigate emerging AI risks and improve system resilience and readiness, developing tools, guidance, safeguards and broader strategies as appropriate. This action may include work to address the increased risk of synthetic or manipulated content entering the justice system.

Conclusion

With strong foundations in place and demonstrable successes, we will continue leveraging AI safely and responsibly to address some of the longstanding challenges facing the justice system, driving better outcomes for staff and citizens.