The Queensland’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal is being buried under an avalanche of unintelligible, irrelevant and erroneous AI-generated submissions by an ever-increasing number of self-represented litigants, according to its President.
Opening QLS’ recent Government Lawyers Conference, Justice Kerri Mellifont offered solutions on the topic of expeditious finalisation of matters at QCAT.
She said that one of the unintended consequences of the ‘endless reams’ of AI generated submissions – mostly from well-intentioned self-represented litigants with limited knowledge of the law and/or AI technology – were doing more harm than good to expedite speedy resolution of their case.
Citing Page v Long1, Justice Mellifont said: “Generative AI can be beguiling, particularly when the task of representing yourself seems overwhelming.”
“However, a litigant runs the risk that their case will be damaged, rather than helped if they choose to use AI, without taking the time to understand what it produces, and to confirm that is both legally and factually accurate.’’
In response to the overwhelming number of AI generated submissions, including those prepared by some legal practitioners, the Queensland courts and QCAT recently issued practice directions concerning use of AI, with the Queensland Court’s official website also issuing warnings on its use.
Justice Mellifont said QCAT had also responded with its own guide to assist in preparation of AI generated submissions and will soon be releasing a flyer for anyone thinking of using AI to help their case.
QCAT was established in 2009 to amalgamate almost 20 tribunals, panels and committees which covered a myriad of minor legal disagreements – from discrimination, the needs of children and the elderly, and neighbourhood disputes, to the supervision and standards of certain professions like doctors, nurses and teachers – into one central tribunal.
Justice Mellifont said QCAT had benefited significantly in its bid to resolve matters swiftly after a significant budget uplift from the Queensland Government in June 2024.
“For those who know anything about QCAT, you will know that it has suffered from inception in terms of lack of resource, and with increasing demand and jurisdictions, wait times have grown, despite all efforts by successive presidents, deputy presidents, members and staff,” she said.
However, she said increasing community use of AI as a source of reliable information had become so increasingly problematic it now potentially dangerous.
“I suspect that some free LLM (large language model) generative AI is largely in free flow enshittification,” she said.
Justice Mellifont explained the new addition to her vocabulary came via her 14 year old. Expressing disbelief that enshittification is in fact a word, her 14 year old assured her that it was.
The term is defined in various ways, but it was explained to her as having something that works okay, and then you keep working on it and adding to it, and it degrades and it degrades and it degrades.
“People may have heard about AI eating its own tail – that’s what enshittification is.”
“I really worry about those who uses Dr Google as their means of medical advice,” she said.
“What this appears to mean is that the generative AI product still gives the impression that it knows what it is talking about because the sentences tend to be sentences; but the content on some platforms seems to be getting worse and worse.
“Which means that the product you and courts and tribunals are getting from some free generative AI sources is getting worse and worse; and it seems longer and longer.
“And, it seems, without any real appreciation by many using it, of the perils of it.”
Other sessions held during the well-attended conference included.
- Probity and managing conflicts of interest – presented by Alex James, Special Counsel, Clayton Utz.
- Navigating ethics – practical tips for government lawyers – presented by QLS Ethics and Practice Centre special counsel Shane Budden and chaired by global law firm Ashurst partner Meredith Bennett.
- Wicked problems, innovative solutions – presented by Gladstone Area Waterboard general counsel and QLS Government Lawyers Committee member Amy Dunphy and chaired by Clayton Utz partner and Head of AI Simon Newcomb.
- Workplace investigations in 2025 and beyond – presented by Ashurst partner Tamara Lutvey and QLS Senior Professional Development Solicitor Jesse Hill.
- Page v Long [2025] VCC868) ↩︎
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