New Delhi: Experimental use of artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing in the legal field, including in the courts, according to a new report. The report pointed out that while the use of AI is unavoidable in a system as overburdened as India’s judicial system, caution is needed as some judicial officers, legal clerks, and secretarial staff may be engaging in “shadow use” of AI without institutional safeguards in place.
DAKSH and Digital Futures Lab’s report, “AI for Justice: Ethical, Fair and Robust Adoption in Indian Courts,” was launched at the United Nations House in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The report warned against unrestricted use of AI. The 82-page report, published jointly with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), said: “In the absence of expertise, training and usage guidelines, many judges and court staff primarily experiment with free tools, often unaware of the associated risks, including the potential for AI tools to hallucinate precedents.”
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The report also highlights incidents in which lawyers misquote fabricated or false cases during arguments in Indian courts, which are often attributed to AI.
DAKSH is a civil society organization founded in 2015 that has been working on judicial reform for more than a decade. UNDP commissioned this report under the project ‘Strengthening rule of law and access to justice to accelerate India’s sustainable development’.
Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyay’s keynote address at the event highlighted that AI is not only being adopted across Indian courts, but is here to stay. “A strong governance framework for AI in the judiciary is needed if courts are to adopt AI technologies in a balanced, fair and coordinated manner to address tasks that require the assistance of AI,” Justice Upadhyay told an audience of lawyers, judges and UN representatives.
The report’s launch included a panel discussion featuring Rajiv Shakder, former Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. Mr. Jhalak Kakkar, Executive Director, Communication Center, National Law University, Delhi; and UNDP Regional Representative (India) Angela Rusigi.
While AI can help courts operate more efficiently and effectively, “such use needs to be approached carefully, keeping in mind transparency and rights-respecting concerns,” Rusigi said.
“We hope that this report and evaluation framework will help courts make informed choices about what use cases are suitable for the use of AI, how to choose AI tools, and what safeguards to take while using AI,” she added.
“Indian courts can no longer ignore AI, but the use of AI in judicial settings needs to be approached with caution. Given the nature of AI, it has the potential to improve the administration of justice and may also deepen existing barriers to accessing AI,” DAKSH Research Manager Leah Belgius, one of the report’s authors, told ThePrint.
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How is AI used in Indian courts?
One of the most important findings noted in the report is the increasing use of “shadow AI” in courtrooms, as well as in other workplaces.
One of the main ways in which AI is being used in Indian courts, and generally by lawyers and interns in the Indian legal field, is in drafting. This may include drafting case briefs, contracts, documents, orders, judgments, statutes, etc. Previously, drafting was done manually by judicial officers with the assistance of judicial clerks and secretarial staff.
AI’s promise of convenience, time savings and enhanced support is particularly compelling in an overburdened system like India’s judiciary, the report said. The report noted that problems faced by courts, such as the growing number of cases pending, could be alleviated through the use of AI tools.
As of December 15, 2025, nearly 5.5 billion cases were pending in India’s district courts and high courts, leading to increased litigation on AI usage.
According to the report, a 2024 UNESCO global survey found that 44% of judicial personnel worldwide use AI tools for work-related tasks. Against this background, the report emphasized the need for caution.
As the world’s second-largest legal tech market, India is increasingly seeing AI as a “force for good” and introducing AI-enabled tools in courtrooms, the report said.
For example, in October 2025, the Kerala High Court directed all courts in the state to adopt Adalat AI, an automated transcription tool for recording witness depositions.
However, the report warned that the use and implementation of AI in Indian courts remains ad hoc and poorly documented. According to the report, the use of AI is most evident in tasks such as translation and transcription of court proceedings.
The report highlighted that digitization initiatives such as the eCourts initiative (aimed at bringing technological communication and administrative related changes to the Indian judiciary) adopted by Indian courts have been “substantive”, adding that such initiatives have been adopted primarily by the Ministry of Justice, the e-Committee of the Supreme Court, the HC, and the National Center for Informatics (NIC).
Risks of using AI in legal situations
The report explained how AI systems operate through data, models, and outputs. Each of these involves concerns about accuracy, fairness, and privacy in sensitive cases. The court said that as custodians of sensitive information, we must be cautious when sharing data with outside parties that do not operate under the same ethical obligations and standards of public responsibility.
“Risks such as bias, illusions, lack of transparency, and limitations on underlying datasets pose concrete threats to judicial legitimacy,” the report said.
It added that many courts lack appropriate technical capacity and impact assessment processes, making it difficult to assess whether AI integration is actually improving judicial efficiency.
The report notes that the use of AI is still largely driven by individuals rather than organizations, making it susceptible to disruption from judicial transfers or retirements of the individuals who spearhead its use. He added that concerns about excessive control, security, accuracy and ethics remain.
“These gaps risk undermining public trust in courts as the use of AI expands, raising concerns about judicial legitimacy,” the report said, adding that the use of AI also comes with potential rights violations.
According to the report, as India’s legal tech market expands and courts increasingly experiment with AI in judicial proceedings, now is a good time to develop decision-making models to design and deploy AI systems in courtrooms. The report noted that even in modern times, day-to-day judicial operations still rely heavily on physical files, paper ledgers, and manual processes.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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