New York (statewide unified court system): New York State Unified Court System Interim Po…
Chief Administrative Judge Joseph A. Zayas · New York State Unified Court System
Verified April 30, 2026
- Citation
- New York State Unified Court System Interim Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence
- Order date
- October 10, 2025
Summary
UCS users may use only those generative AI products that have been approved by the UCS Division of Technology and Court Research (DoTCR), which are identified in the attached Appendix.
What does the order require?
- UCS users may use only those generative AI products that have been approved by the UCS Division of Technology and Court Research (DoTCR), which are identified in the attached Appendix.
- All judges and nonjudicial UCS employees with computer access shall be required to complete an initial training course, as well as continuing training, in the use of AI technology. No generative AI product may be used on any UCS-owned device or for any UCS-related work until the user has completed the initial training course.
- No user may input into any generative AI program that does not operate on a private model (by writing a prompt, uploading a document or file, or otherwise) any information that is confidential, private, or privileged, or includes personally identifiable information or protected health information, or is otherwise inappropriate for public release.
- No user may upload into any generative AI program that does not operate on a private model any document that has been filed or submitted for filing in any court, even if the document is classified as public.
- Any user who uses a generative AI program to produce a document or any other content must thoroughly review the content produced by the program and make necessary revisions to ensure that it is accurate and appropriate, and does not reflect any unfair bias, stereotypes, or prejudice.
- AI tools should never actually be engaged in the decision-making tasks a judge is ethically obligated to perform or used by nonjudicial employees in any way that violates their ethical responsibilities.
Practice areas: judicial branch policy
What the policy requires
On October 10, 2025, Chief Administrative Judge Joseph A. Zayas issued the New York State Unified Court System (UCS) Interim Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence. Developed by the UCS Advisory Committee on Artificial Intelligence and the Courts (formed in April 2024), it is the first system-wide AI policy adopted by any state court system. Scope is internal: it applies to all UCS judges, justices, and nonjudicial employees, on all UCS-owned devices and any device performing UCS-related work.
The policy’s mandatory requirements (Section V) are:
- Pre-vetted tool list. UCS users may use only generative AI products approved by the UCS Division of Technology and Court Research (DoTCR), identified in the policy Appendix. The current Appendix includes Microsoft Azure AI Services, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot for Business or Enterprise, Trados Studio, and OpenAI ChatGPT Free Version (paid subscriptions are prohibited).
- Mandatory training. All judges and nonjudicial UCS employees with computer access must complete initial and continuing AI training. No GenAI use is permitted until the initial course is complete.
- Confidentiality firewall. No confidential, private, or privileged information (including PII or PHI) may be input into any non-private-model GenAI tool. No court filing (even one classified as public) may be uploaded to a non-private-model program.
- Human review required. Any GenAI-produced content must be thoroughly reviewed and revised to ensure accuracy and absence of unfair bias.
- No personal use on UCS devices. AI tools may not be used on UCS-owned devices for personal purposes.
- Supervisor override. DoTCR approval signifies technological safety, not task suitability; judges and supervisors retain authority to prohibit GenAI use for particular tasks by those under their supervision.
What the policy means for practitioners (and what it does not)
This is an internal court-system policy, not a filing rule. It does not impose disclosure or certification obligations on attorneys filing in New York courts. It is also distinct from the Surrogate’s Court Part 161 AI Policy, which is bench-specific.
Two practical implications for the practicing bar:
- Documents you file may be off-limits to AI inside the courthouse. UCS judges and clerks cannot upload your filings into ChatGPT, Copilot, or any non-private-model GenAI tool to summarize them. If the court is using AI to assist with workload, it is doing so within Microsoft’s New York State UCS Azure Government Tenant or O365 Tenant.
- The court’s posture toward AI is defined. The policy explicitly states that “AI tools should never actually be engaged in the decision-making tasks a judge is ethically obligated to perform.” Practitioners can rely on this when raising concerns about AI use in any specific proceeding.
Practitioner workflow
No direct filing obligations. The policy is useful as background context when (a) advising clients on whether court-bound documents will be processed by GenAI (answer: only inside private-model tenants if at all), and (b) shaping firm-side AI-use policies that mirror the UCS confidentiality firewall, particularly the rule against uploading filed documents to public-model AI even after they are public on the docket.
Scope
All UCS judges, justices, and nonjudicial employees, on all UCS-owned devices and on any device performing UCS-related work. Statewide. Interim status: “intended to evolve with technological advancements, operational necessities, and future iterations of relevant legislation, regulation, and public policy.”
Primary source
Policy PDF: https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/a.i.-policy.pdf
Mirror (Ohio Supreme Court Judicial Services): https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/docs/JCS/courtSvcs/AI/25-10NYSPolicy.pdf