AI as a supportive tool: Artificial intelligence can streamline research and case management, but it can never replace the human acumen and decision-making of judges.
Anchored in core values: Technological advancements must be balanced with foundational constitutional promises like dignity, equality, liberty, and fairness.
Enhancing accessibility: Digital transformation should be harnessed to make justice more transparent, inclusive, and responsive without excluding vulnerable citizens.
CJI Surya Kant Calls For Balancing AI-Driven Judicial Transformation With Constitutional Values
Emphasizing that technology can assist legal processes and research, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant stresses that AI must never replace human judicial decision-making
Summary
New Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Thursday called for embracing digitalisation and artificial intelligence in the justice system while ensuring that technological advancement does not dilute the constitutional values of dignity, equality, liberty and fairness.
Addressing the opening session of the VII Congress of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts (AACC) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the CJI said courts could not remain untouched by the rapid transformation brought about by technology.
"Technology is changing the way our societies function. It is changing the way governments deliver services, businesses operate and citizens interact with public institutions. Courts, too, cannot remain untouched by this transformation," he said.
Digitalisation offers enormous possibilities for the justice system, he said, adding that it can make courts more accessible, reduce delays and simplify procedures.
"Artificial intelligence can assist judges and court staff in research and in managing large volumes of information. These are opportunities that we must approach with openness and imagination.
"But technology also presents us with a more fundamental question: what must remain unchanged when everything around us is changing? For Constitutional Courts, the answer lies in the values we are entrusted to protect," he said.
The CJI said a court does not merely decide cases.
"It gives meaning to the constitutional promises of dignity, equality, liberty and fairness," he said.
CJI Kant said AI provides opportunities and the courts must approach it with openness and imagination.
Emphasising that the choice before constitutional courts was not between tradition and technology, he said the objective should be to bring the benefits of technology into judicial institutions while remaining firmly anchored to constitutional values.
The CJI also highlighted the importance of cooperation among Asian constitutional courts in addressing the challenges posed by technological change.
The theme of the Congress is "Constitutional Justice in the Era of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence".
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