AI can guide but lawyers, judges must be final arbiter: Justice Surya Kant

way2barak October 25: Artificial Intelligence (AI) can assist judges, lawyers and citizens but it cannot replace the human element behind rendering justice, Supreme Court Justice Surya Kant opined.

technology on law students and young scholars. in this regard, he noted that online repositories, digital internships and live-streamed court proceedings have made legal education more interactive and globally connected.

At the same time, Justice Kant warned of the risks that accompany the rapid adoption of digital tools. He identified four major challenges – digital literacy gaps, data privacy, AI bias and institutional resistance to change.

He said the first challenge was ensuring that all members of the legal system could keep pace with digital progress.

“This digital divide risks exacerbating inequality: some legal actors may leap ahead, while many may be left behind,” he said, urging bar councils and judicial academies to invest in training and capacity building.

He said that as new tools and innovations reshape how justice is delivered, members of the legal fraternity must stay flexible and willing to learn, adapting to change without losing sight of their core values.

“New models will emerge, systems will evolve, and challenges will multiply. Our duty is to remain learners, open, adaptive, reflective and ready to embrace what aids in the pursuit of justice and discard what does not. For, at the end of the day, technology may illuminate the path – but it is humanity that must lead the way,” he said.

Turning to privacy concerns, he underlined the need for lawyers to safeguard client confidentiality in an age of data-driven practice.

“Lawyers deal in trust and therefore the confidentiality, privilege, data integrity, and cybersecurity of their clients must remain sacrosanct,” he said.

He also cautioned against over-reliance on AI.

“AI tools are not infallible. They can generate inaccuracies, hallucinations or reflect latent biases of their training data. Human oversight is non-negotiable. The lawyer or judge must always remain the final arbiter, checking and validating the AI output,” he said.

Justice Surya Kant then urged bar associations and judiciaries across South Asia to collaborate on ethical and technological standards.

He proposed the creation of a “legal tech consortium” comprising judges, practitioners, academics and technologists to share best practices, regulatory models and training programmes across jurisdictions.

He said India’s experience with e-courts, live-streaming, translation portals and AI-assisted transcription tools could offer valuable insights to neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka.

He added that legal education should evolve to prepare young lawyers for a technology-driven future. Law schools, he said, must embed courses on data science, AI ethics and computational law into their curricula.

Justice Kant concluded by urging the legal fraternity to shape the digital transition rather than resist it.

“We can resist technology and risk stagnation, or we can shape and guide it, embedding our legal and ethical values within its design, so that it strengthens, not supplants, justice,” he said.