AI and The Indian Justice System – AI in Indian Judiciary

Artificial Intelligence has proven to be useful in multiple spheres of life.

From medicine to education, AI-based solutions are slowly by steadily making their presence felt. 

Irrespective of the field, the fact remains that all professionals and organizations strive for accuracy and faster completion of tasks.

AI has proved through automation, that human error can now be eliminated in mundane tasks. 

One field that has not yet seen a full-fledged adoption of AI is the justice system.

Incorporation of AI into the judicial system has been happening at snail pace in India. The reasons for this are many.

Read on to know more about the scope of AI in the Indian justice system.

Need of AI in Indian Justice System

Before we go into the details of why AI has not yet made a significant impact on the justice system, let us ask ourselves if there is a need for AI in this field? How can AI possibly help? 

India not only has one of the largest judicial systems in the world; the judicial data is also largely scattered.

The under-digitized information combined with the huge number of cases even at the lowest level of decentralization makes it hard for citizens to get timely justice. 

Lawyers are caught up with a lot of paperwork, and cannot fully focus on solving cases.

In India, it is quite common to hear the phrase ‘Justice delayed is justice denied,’ while protesting for faster processing of cases. 

AI is an umbrella term for powerful models and algorithms that can automate tasks, analyze data, provide insights and even make data-driven predictions.

Therefore, AI can help in automating repetitive tasks, thereby saving a lot of time. This can in-turn speed up the entire workflow of the system.  

Challenges in implementing AI in Indian Justice System

One reason why AI hasn’t been implemented in the justice system, is due to the vast challenges that the system poses.

1. Lack of open access to data

Considering the population of the country, it is not surprising that it has a large amount of judicial data. As the success of an AI model largely depends on the size of the dataset among other factors, India is at an advantage. 

However, judicial data is unfortunately not quite easy to access. Most of the data is either scattered or not yet digitized.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done before AI can be introduced on a large scale. 

2. Complexity of laws

There are several laws surrounding the use of disruptive technology for various purposes. A deeper examination of these complex laws would reveal some ambiguity. This again poses a challenge for some AI-based solutions. 

Owing to the big number of courts and cases, maintaining uniformity in implementation also poses a challenge.

As the people involved in the system become more aware of the uses of technology, they can come together and create a conducive environment to implement the same. 

Examples of AI for the Indian justice system

Despite the challenges, startups have put their best foot forward, and created a number of AI-based solutions that can help the Indian justice system. This section discusses some of the solutions.

1. SpotDraft

Developed by a Bengaluru-based company, it is a contract management platform for legal documents.

Text analysis is there through AI and ML to analyze a document and suggest to the client about negotiable clauses.

2. Mitra.ai

Mumbai-based company Pensieve has developed a solution – Mitra.ai.

It is an AI-based search engine that can automatically recognize the context of a search query, and provide relevant recommendations for the same. 

3. CaseIQ

Developed by CaseMine, CaseIQ is a comprehensive virtual research assistant.

It differs from a regular research tool in the sense that it depends on more than just keywords to retrieve relevant legal documents. 

Let us contrast these innovations with the developments in other parts of the world.

LawGeex, an Israeli-based startup, has developed an ML-based contract review platform.

In a study carried out by American researchers, LawGeex outperformed human lawyers in spotting the mistakes in NDA documents.

The platform proved to be more accurate and faster than the team of experienced lawyers. 

The way forward

The Chief Justice of India has spoken on multiple occasions regarding the implementation of AI for mundane tasks.

It is true that judgements require human perception and a humane understanding of offences.

Therefore, algorithms can in no way replace lawyers or judges.

AI in the justice system, is only to complement the duties of the professionals in the system. 

Summary

One can safely say that unlike other jobs, there is no immediate threat for legal professionals due to the rise of AI in Indian Judiciary.

If anything, it can help in delivery judgements at a faster pace.