AI can’t replace human judgment: CJI Surya Kant on tech in judiciary

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said young legal professionals are driving the judiciary’s technological transformation but stressed that AI cannot replace human judgment. Speaking at Oxford Union, he highlighted AI’s efficiency while underlining the importance of empathy and ethical reasoning

New Delhi: Young lawyers, judicial officers and legal professionals are an encouraging source for the judiciary’s technological transformation, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has said. Speaking at the Oxford Union on the theme “Constitutional Promise to Digital Reality: Safeguarding Justice in the Age of AI and Technological Advancement,” the CJI also emphasised that technology can never replace human judgment.

“The youth in law, I am using the word, is so adaptive in India, whether the district court judicial officer, whether the government lawyer, and even those who are assisting the corporate entities as legal advisors.

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“All these young brains are so adaptive, so quick in adopting it, that they have been a really encouraging source for the Indian judiciary to bring all these reformative changes,” the CJI said.

He said an artificial intelligence system can process immense volumes of legal text with astonishing speed. “It can map procedural trends and eliminate administrative checkpoints with clinical precision, yet it remains entirely blind to the qualities that animate the soul of the law — empathy, ethical discernment and deep contextual understanding,” the CJI said. Advocate Tanvi Dubey delivered the welcome remarks.