Artificial intelligence may augment judicial reasoning, but it cannot substitute judicial conscience – Surya Kant, Chief Justice Of India

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Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has said the judiciary’s governing principle is that artificial intelligence may augment judicial reasoning, but it cannot substitute judicial conscience.

He said that a permanent apex body has been proposed to supervise the adoption and accountability of the new technology.

As reported by PTI, Speaking at a bilateral meeting with Ulrich Herrmann, the presiding judge of the Federal Court of Justice at Karlsruhe in Germany, CJI Kant said that artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in certain defined support functions such as legal research, judgment translation into 16 languages and as a conversational interface for citizens to look for case status and procedures.

“Artificial intelligence may augment judicial reasoning, but it cannot substitute judicial conscience.

“Draft regulations from the Supreme Court’s AI Committee permit administrative uses such as scheduling, transcription and translation, while barring AI from assessing witness credibility, flight risk, recidivism or bail eligibility; a permanent apex body has been proposed to supervise the adoption and accountability of AI,” he said.

“Our two judiciaries share the same underlying responsibility: to preserve judicial independence and public confidence while adapting our institutions to new forms of litigation and new expectations of access.

“Technology and administrative reform can support this responsibility, but neither can replace careful adjudication, human judgement and fidelity to law,” he said.

The CJI said that institutional mediation centres, Lok Adalats and digital Lok Adalats, including the Supreme Court’s recent special Lok Adalat, ‘Samadhan Samaroh’, have brought settlement within reach of parties well beyond major cities, supported by trained professionals, case managers and secure digital systems.

“As two major trading partners, our judiciaries and mediation institutions stand to gain from exchanging experience on cross-border commercial mediation, the recognition and enforcement of mediated settlements, and joint training for mediators handling India-Germany commercial disputes,” he said.

At the outset, the CJI said that both the countries have developed different judicial structures and legal traditions, as India follows a common-law tradition with one integrated judicial hierarchy, while Germany has a civil-law system with separate branches of federal jurisdiction.