This is general information, not legal advice, and reflects Ontario law as of September 16, 2026.
Two courts, not one court with an upstairs
It's an easy assumption: the Court of Appeal is just the top floor of the same building as the Superior Court of Justice (OSCJ). It isn't. The OSCJ has its own Chief Justice and rolled out AI guidance in stages — civil and family practice directions in November 2025, a criminal one in February 2026. Its Divisional Court branch even picked up AI reference-verification wording in its own Consolidated Practice Direction, last updated June 8, 2026.
The Court of Appeal runs its own Chief Justice, rules committee, and practice-direction library — separate from the OSCJ, the same way Tribunals Ontario's guidance doesn't automatically bind the Ontario Land Tribunal.
What the Court of Appeal's own site actually says
Checked directly, not just search results: the Court of Appeal's General Practice Direction (April 2026), its Civil Appeals and Criminal Appeals practice directions (April and June 2026), and its full practice-directions listing — none mention artificial intelligence, generative AI, or ChatGPT.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario's Civil and Criminal Appeals practice directions — refreshed as recently as April and June 2026 — contain zero mentions of artificial intelligence, generative AI, or ChatGPT.Court of Appeal for Ontario, practice-directions library, reviewed September 2026
What still catches an AI-hallucinated appeal factum
The gap isn't total. Ontario Regulation 275/26, in force since September 1, 2026, added a citation-authenticity duty: anyone signing a factum or expert report must certify every quoted authority accurately reflects its source text. That same package touched the Court of Appeal's own factum rules, 61.11 and 61.12. An appellant relying on AI-fabricated case law still runs into a certification requirement — it's just not labelled an "AI rule."
Don't assume Superior Court AI guidance follows a file up to the Court of Appeal — it doesn't. Check O. Reg. 275/26's certification duty before signing any appeal factum, AI-assisted or not. DROZlegal's litigation drafting tools hyperlink every cited authority to its live CanLII record while drafting — a lawyer still verifies and certifies, every time. See our breakdown of LTB and HRTO AI disclosure for a related scope question.