Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day East Zone II Regional Conference of the National Judicial Academy in Kolkata, the CJI highlighted the role of technological advancements in the justice delivery system. “We are experimenting with Artificial Intelligence in the Supreme Court… As someone who spent 34 years in the art and science of judging, I don’t want a machine-operated robot to write my judgment… The machine-operated robot may give a more mathematically correct answer in a claim for motor accident compensation. I may make multiplication errors but the machine-operated robot cannot have that sense of empathy or compassion which a judge has. AI has failings. It has biases depending on who designed it,” he said.

He further added, “But we are using AI in a very different context… Sometimes cases of very high value are filed in our registries. The more resourced citizens are able to ensure that their cases are fast-tracked. While the cases of poorer citizens take a back seat. Then we thought why not introduce AI for the verification of cases? AI can do that. We are going to unveil that in the Supreme Court very shortly.”

CJI Chandrachud highlighted that Artificial Intelligence can be used to categorise cases. “Which enables us to manage the litigation better,” he said.

Expressing his concern over the widespread use of technology, the CJI said that everybody cannot have enough money to subscribe to judgments of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, now, has a digital library on their website where all judges and lawyers across India can access it, free of cost, he said, adding, “This is an effort to promote legal literacy.”