Mentors Comment
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is steadily entering the Indian judiciary, promising efficiency in a system burdened with nearly five crore pending cases. However, without proper guardrails, it risks undermining the very foundation of justice. The recent Kerala High Court guidelines mark India’s first attempt at framing policy around AI use in judicial processes. This is a critical juncture where technology and justice intersect demanding careful balance between innovation and accountability.
Introduction
The integration of Artificial Intelligence into courts represents a paradigm shift in India’s judicial landscape. While AI tools such as transcription, translation, and defect detection offer solutions to systemic inefficiencies, their unregulated use could lead to serious ethical and legal risks. From mistranslations of legal terminology to hallucinations in Large Language Models (LLMs), the challenges are real. The need of the hour is a structured framework that ensures AI strengthens, rather than weakens, the judiciary’s integrity and human-centric decision-making.
The Growing Relevance of AI in Courts
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Why are AI-enabled court processes risky?
- Mistranslation risks: In India, the Supreme Court’s AI-based translation initiative SUVAS once mistranslated “leave granted” as “chhutti manzoor” (holiday approved) in Hind
- Hallucinations in AI: LLMs such as Whisper generate fictitious phrases when encountering pauses, leading to unreliable records.
- Bias in legal research: AI search results may amplify user patterns, invisibilising relevant precedents, impacting fair adjudication.
- Reductionist adjudication: AI risks turning nuanced judicial reasoning into mere rule-based inference, undermining human judgment.
How is AI being used in courts today?
- Pilot tools: Market tools are in test use for transcription of oral arguments and witness depositions, though without timelines or safeguards.
- Manual checks: Current safeguards include retired judges and translators manually vetting AI-generated judgments.
- Risk of dependency: Courts adopting AI pilots without frameworks risk becoming dependent on vendors without sustainable adoption plans.
What are the guardrails necessary for responsible AI use?
- Critical AI literacy: Judges, lawyers and staff need capacity-building to understand both potential and limitations of AI.
- Transparency rights: Litigants should be informed if AI is used in research or judgment-writing; they should also have the right to opt out.
- Procurement standards: Courts need standardised procurement guidelines to assess reliability, explainability, data handling, and vendor compliance.
- Dedicated tech offices: The Vision Document for Phase III of the eCourts Project suggests creating technology offices to guide courts in evaluating and adopting AI tools.
The way forward for AI in judiciary
- Balanced adoption: AI must serve the ends of justice, not replace human reasoning.
- Infrastructure readiness: Reliable internet and hardware are prerequisites before full-scale deployment.
- Oversight and accountability: Independent monitoring systems and ethical review frameworks must be built into adoption.
Conclusion
AI can be a transformative force in India’s judiciary, addressing inefficiencies in a system struggling under massive case pendency. But technology without guardrails risks introducing new layers of error, bias, and opacity. The ultimate purpose of judicial reform must remain the same, to deliver fair, timely, and human-centred justice. Clear guidelines, transparency, and ethical oversight will determine whether AI strengthens or weakens the rule of law in India.
Value Addition |
AI is already being deployed in judicial systems worldwide to improve efficiency, accessibility, and decision-making.
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PYQ Relevance
[UPSC 2018] E-Governance is not only about utilization of technology but also about the ‘use value’ of information. Explain.
Linkage: The 2018 UPSC question on E-Governance and ‘use value’ of information directly links to AI in judiciary: while AI can speed up translations, research, and transcription, its real worth lies in enhancing accessibility, transparency, and fairness in justice delivery—not just technological adoption.
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