28-09-2026
AI and Law: How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing the Legal Profession
In the current global scenario, Artificial Intelligence is becoming prevalent, and efforts now been made to incorporate it into the judicial system to make the system more effective and efficient so as to reduce the pendency of cases in the courts. India is no exception. In 2021 supreme court launched it very own AI portal (SUPACE) Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Court Efficiency and the recent developments in the use of ChatGPT to research on the matters related to Bail jurisprudence and finding the relevant precedents by the Punjab and Haryana High Court points out towards the increase in reliance and assistance of AI based adjudication by the courts. However, the tools are not used extensively they are positioned as the research aid to improve judicial efficiency, they still raise several fundamental concerns about the transparency, compatibility, algorithmic biasness and whether they harmonise with the constitutional safeguards of equality, due process or procedure established by law and privacy.
On March 27, 2023, Justice Anoop Chitkara of the Punjab and Haryana High court used Artificial Intelligence chat bot developed by open AI (Chat GPT) while deciding a Bail case to derive a broader picture of bail jurisprudence when an assailant assault is one that involves cruelty. This marked the first ever use case of generative AI by an Indian judge in the Indian legal landscape. This episode marks the beginning of the interaction between the technological innovation and the constitutional framework and safeguards in Indian justice system. Across the different jurisdictions from US to Europe, AI tools are being trailed and are integrated into multiple legal systems and urban uses. There is a rapid global agreement on using artificial intelligence and machine learning in Public Policing, identifying potential crime hotspots and criminal justice research.
Various algorithms are used in identifying likelihood of specific offences, to create a model of patterns combined with the methods to identify the hotspots and use them in predictive policing. Predictive policing algorithm analyzes the historical data to determine and forecast where and when crime is likely to happen. The method is purely data driven and is positioned as an alternate to human judgement to give fair and equitable justice. By assessing the large data sets, the model can reveal patterns that would be hard to identify manually, which will enable efficient and effective planning and intervention to avoid crimes before they happen, supporting the very jurisprudence of Indian criminal law. However, many models rely on historical police data, the data which inherently possess biases in enforcement, the data cannot be treated neutrally by the AI as it can cause AI over-policing of certain communities or areas and neglecting the harm elsewhere.
Various studies from US, UK and EU show that the bias in the data and disproportionality targets racial and ethnic minorities, and totally undermining the presumption of innocence, judging solely based on the algorithmic scores to recognize and identify dangerousness and largely neglecting the principle of natural justice and Audi Alteram Partem denying the individuals to contest the decisions and fight for their liberty and state arbitrariness.
Despite these developments and technological advancements and inclusion, India lacks a comprehensive statutory framework which can govern AI and its all-potential abuse. The regulations given in the Information Technology Act, 2000 (designed for general cyber-governance); the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (focused on criminal offences); and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (primarily a data protection law) are fragmented and not exhaustive in nature.
