It feels, pleasingly, like a scene from a cerebral James Bond film, or perhaps an episode of Slow Horses. I am in a shadowy corner of a plush, buzzy Soho members’ bar. A mild December twilight is falling over London. Across the table from me sits an old acquaintance, a senior English barrister, greying, quietly handsome, in his mid fifties. And he wants to speak anonymously, because what he is about to say will earn the loathing of his entire profession.

Let’s call him James. I’ve known him for a few years, and over these years we’ve discussed all kinds of things, from politics to architecture to the misfortunes of Chelsea FC. We’ve also discussed technology and AI. James’s views of AI were always like his politics: centrist, clever, moderate, sceptical. But now that has changed. In the past few weeks James has come to believe AI will ‘completely destroy’ the law as we know it: wrecking careers, ending systems, making thousands jobless. And the Armageddon, he says, is coming faster than almost anyone realises.

As he sips an espresso martini, he prefaces his case with some context. ‘You saw the headlines about the Sandie Peggie case? Where the judge allegedly used AI? Well, believe me, this is just the beginning. AI is coming for us all.’

‘How?’

‘Last week we did an experiment, a kind of simulation. We took a real, recent and important case – a complex civil court appeal which I wrote, and it took me a day and a half. We redacted all identifying details, for anonymity and confidentiality, and we fed........

© The Spectator