Shenzhen court AI helps judges close 50% more cases, and China is expanding it
Shenzhen judges closed about 50% more cases per judge in 2025 with a court AI system, and China plans to bring the pilot to courts in dozens more cities.
Shenzhen's courts are posting numbers that would make a finance minister blush. Judges in the city of 18 million closed an average of 744 cases each in 2025, 249 more than in 2024, or about 50% more per judge, the city's courts say. Average monthly closures per judge are 60% higher than before the launch.
The engine is a court AI system switched on in June 2024. It reads the case file, lists the issues and drafts the judgment for the judge to check. By August 31, 2026, it had been used in more than 700,000 cases and helped draft 678,000 documents, according to a white paper the courts presented at a forum in Shenzhen in September.
Now comes the expansion. The South China Morning Post reported that the pilot will roll out to courts in dozens more Chinese cities. On.cc reported that the Supreme People's Court has added the system to its national case-handling platform and will roll it out fully after trials in 23 courts. The reports do not say which cities are next.
The world is watching. Sir Geoffrey Vos, head of the civil courts of England and Wales, visited the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in September and said courts worldwide should consider its approach.
My take: a 50% productivity jump, a national platform and a top English judge asking the world to look. That is what scale looks like when a state decides to move.
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Sources
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
The white paper says appeal rates fell 48%, while the court's vice president cited 35.1% for 2025 alone. The white paper gives no time frame for its figure, so I would pick the number with a date on it.
The system screens filings, reviews files, supports hearings, drafts documents and searches the law, and the judge checks the output. Per SCMP, the rollout covers dozens of cities, but the reports do not identify the cities.
