The UK Wastes £500M a Year on Court Transcripts — Isatong's Voice AI Can End It

KENSINGTON, U.K. - May 6, 2026 - PRLog -- Isatong.ai, a company with a three-decade legacy that includes providing services to institutions of HM Queen Elizabeth II wants the UK Government to commission a pilot of its AI transcription platform across the court in England and Wales. This follows a landmark debate in March 2026, in which MPs debated a public petition demanding an end to the "paywall for justice" created by the existing commercial transcription model — a model that can charge individuals up to £20,000 for a single trial transcript and is estimated to cost the public purse in excess of £500 million every year.

The £500 million annual estimate is drawn from the Ministry of Justice's own published data. HM Courts and Tribunals Service recorded more than 550,000 sitting days. This figure does not include the additional social cost borne by victims who are charged thousands of pounds to read the record of their own trials, nor the cost to appellants priced out of their right of appeal. Rape survivors have been quoted £7,500 for transcripts of their own cases. Small-claims litigants face bills that exceed the value of their disputes.

Professor Chris Imafidon, internationally recognised AI Pioneer, and Engr. Isaac Udotong, Former NASA Engineer and  Co-Founder of Isatong, were both present as debate unfolded.  The session was subsequently transcribed automatically, in full, and at negligible cost by Fireflies.ai — the AI Voice transcription platform that Isatong has deployed across UK. The very debate about the impossibility of affordable transcription was itself transcribed instantly by the technology Parliament has yet to commission. After the debate, the Isatong team had held discussions with ministers and senior government leaders on how Voice AI transcription could be deployed system-wide to automate hearing capture, eliminate commercial mark-ups, and deliver near-instant, publicly accessible court records.

"We have served British institutions with honour for over three decades, including institutions of Her late Majesty the Queen," said Engr. Isaac Udotong, Co-Founder and CEO of Isatong. "We sat in Westminster Hall and watched Parliament name the exact problem our technology solves. The question is no longer whether this can be done — it is whether the Government will act before another £500 million is spent and another generation of victims, litigants and families goes unheard."

This combination — Royal-grade trust, deep public-sector experience, and frontier AI capability — makes Isatong uniquely positioned to lead the transformation of court transcription in the UK.

https://isatong.ai/