ChatGPT’s explosion onto the scene has a lot of us thinking about the possibilities—and legal consequences—of generative artificial intelligence and other technologies in a serious way for the first time. 

But these seem to be topics that U.S. District Judge Frank Volk of the Southern District of West Virginia and Louisiana Judge Scott Schlegel of the 24th Judicial District Court in Jefferson Parish have been chewing on for some time. The two jurists were in conversation Friday in a web discussion sponsored by the Berkeley Judicial Institute about simple technological tools that courts can use to better serve their stakeholders. (Schlegel’s use of online calendaring and dental office-style text and email hearing reminders, for one, sound like a dream.)