ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND INDIAN JUDICIARY

Reading time : 10 minutes

INTRODUCTION

From the very beginning of the life on earth we have witnessed that all the work and labor be it physical work or mental work all are done by human beings but as the time changes and through technological advancement we can clearly see the gradual shift from human labor to machines. Technology is taking place everywhere on behalf of the human beings.

The work which can be done by a human in 3 hours that same work machines through technological advancement are able to complete in lesser time. We all are surrounded by machines and technologies starting from mobile phones to cars laptops vacuum cleaners and many more great gadgets, machines and robots. All these technological advancement for helping the mankind and decreasing their work is beneficial as well as dangerous for the mankind.

Technology is developing at a very high rate and each day it is taking the place of human beings, be it companies or in legal work as well, basically human skills, ideas, thoughts, emotions, and many other human processes are substituted by machines and robots. First time in 1956 the term AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) introduced by JOHN MC CARTHY when he first held the academic conference on the subject He then defined it as “The science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs”.[1] It is a branch in computer science which formulates the ability to automate along with learning by receiving, analysing, processing, and providing a result out of the given information all by itself, without any human interference.[2] Man-made brainpower (AI) is wide-going part of software engineering worried about building brilliant machines fit for performing undertakings that regularly require human insight. Man-made intelligence is an interdisciplinary science with various methodologies, yet headways in AI and profound learning are making a change in perspective in for all intents and purposes each area of the tech business. The manner in which Artificial insight is clubbing and influencing with legitimate world is past any cut-off points. In numerous western nations where innovation is showing its progression consistently and coming to at the stunning heights, courts there are taking the assistance from the computerized reasoning in dynamic, insightful speculation and from numerous points of view, with the goal that the cases should be choose in a speed up way.

Man-made consciousness permits PCs and machines, robots to mimic the insight, learning, critical thinking, and dynamic abilities of the people, fundamentally to function as cognition ally as individuals do.

India now has almost 4 crore pending cases spanning the Supreme Court, various high courts and the numerous district and subordinate courts, according to written replies submitted by the Ministry of Law and Justice in Parliament. That compares with 3.65 crore total pending cases in India as of Feb. 1, 2020. The number of unresolved litigations in the country stood at 3.59 crore in November 2019. Between Feb. 1 and Aug. 31, 2020, the Supreme Court has seen a 3.6% rise in pending cases to 62,054. Between Jan. 29 and Sept. 20, the pending cases in high courts has risen 12.4% to 51.5 lakh. District and subordinate courts, too, saw a 6.6% increase to 3.4 crore cases in the same period. To be sure, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted court proceedings in India and moved hearings from physical to virtual courtrooms.[3] After this data we can clearly say that advancement in technology and help by AI is a need of an hour by justice delivery system for hearing and dispose of the large number of cases in quick and efficient manner.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

 HISTORY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics are interlinked.[4] The history dates back to the year 1923 when the word robot was used for the first time in Karel Capek’s play named “Rossum’s Universal Robots” (RUR). Following this the word Robotics came into picture in the year 1945[5] when Isaac Asimov, a Columbia University alumnus, coined the term Robotics.

AI itself is a young field; it has inherited many ideas, viewpoints, and techniques from other disciplines. From over 2000 years of tradition in philosophy, theories of reasoning and learning have emerged, along with the viewpoint that the mind is constituted by the operation of a physical system. From over 400 years of mathematics, we have formal theories of logic, probability, decision making, and computation. From linguistics, we have theories of the structure and meaning of language. Finally, from computer science, we have the tools with which to make AI a reality.[6]

In computer science, the term artificial intelligence (AI) refers to any human-like intelligence exhibited by a computer, robot, or other machine. In popular usage, artificial intelligence refers to the ability of a computer or machine to mimic the capabilities of the human mind—learning from examples and experience, recognizing objects, understanding and responding to language, making decisions, solving problems—and combining these and other capabilities to perform functions a human might perform, such as greeting a hotel guest or driving a car.[7]

As expecting Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to affect all the noteworthy sectors of human life in the future, and the judiciary is a very important part of that not an exception. In the judiciary, AI helps legal professionals to concentrate on more crucial and strategic work by automating certain mundane processes. As per ‘McKinsey,’ 22% of a lawyer’s job can be done by AI.

In a landmark study by researchers at the Stanford Law School, Duke Law, and the University of Southern California, it was observed that an AI-based system ‘LawGeex’ outperformed a team of 20 renowned US lawyers having decades of legal experience in the task to spot issues in five Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). The ‘LawGeex’ attained an average accuracy of 94%, whereas the lawyers managed to achieve only 85%. The most interesting fact is that the ‘LawGeex’ took only 26 seconds for finishing the task, while the lawyers took 92 minutes on average for the same job. Prof. Gillian Hadfield (Professor, Law and Economics at the University of Southern California) commented: “AI can help solve both the problems of contract management and people development by making contract management faster and more reliable, and freeing up resources so legal departments can focus on building the quality of their human legal teams.” According to the same research, AI has the potential to disrupt the $600 billion global legal services market.[8]

HOW ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE IS USEFUL FOR LEGAL SYSTEM IN INDIA

Simulated intelligence can be useful in a wide range of strategies and in approaches by the legitimate apparatus of Indian judicial framework, like lawful composition, research work, due steadiness, thinking, learning, insight, dynamic, analyzing the cases, etymological knowledge and from various perspectives. In later, one of India’s top law offices, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas turned into the main Indian firm to come into a concurrence with Kira Systems, to access their AI framework to speed up their lawful exploration and efficiency.

Computerized reasoning, in any case, has the ability to totally change the everyday lives of individuals, for better or for more awful, it is our responsibility to look for an appropriate manual for guarantee positive effect of Artificial Intelligence on living souls.

As we realize that in India legal executive has been inadequate with regards to judges and a heightening no. of disrupted cases in various no. courts. There is a ton of tension on the legal executive to convey quality decisions on the whole the cases inside a sensible time span. An AI-based framework explicitly made for a particular legal work could show to be exceptionally valuable in controlling and assisting the adjudicators with conveying choices, in this way enabling them to arrive at their objective expediently.

Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, the Chief Justice of India, while talking at the ‘Constitution Day’ work coordinated by the Supreme Court Bar Association on November 26, 2019, effectively communicated his aims to embrace an AI-based framework in the Supreme Court in a restricted and controlled way, He said: “We propose to introduce, if possible, a system of artificial intelligence. There are many things which we need to look at before we introduce. We do not want to give the impression that this is ever going to substitute the judges.”[9]

In the Indian judiciary system, AI has massive potential to help the judges in legal decision-making like determining on the bail and sentencing the appropriate sentence, granting of parole thus accelerate the judicial work. In the near future, Artificial Intelligence programs are also expected to play a more important, dominant and crucial role in the Indian judiciary system, which will not just only be restricted to assisting the judges. But there are few perceptions linked with its operation in the judicial system which need to be looked before its adoption to such an extent. One such perception is that the judiciary’s accountability may be reduced due to the incomprehensibility of the AI-based system. Another such perception is the possibility of having an ‘automation bias or prejudice. Though the advantage of adopting an AI-based program to a higher level in the judiciary seem tempting as it promises to improve its efficiency drastically, as of now, it should be utilized to a limited extent only for helping the judges that too after thorough exploration.

BENEFITS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN JUDICIAL SECTOR

Man-made brainpower and law predominantly manage the utilization of calculations to make law more consistent, helpful and plausible. We have seen that AI is being joined in a large portion of the associations across the world, even in the little and medium ventures. In this way, normally, the Indian lawful area has likewise gotten conscious of AI and its employments. In this specific segment, the creator will investigate the advantages of AI to the lawful calling in India and attempt to legitimize its significance in India’s legitimate area. There are numerous advantages of having AI helping the lawful experts, which incorporates, yet isn’t restricted to:

1.TIME CONSERVING: With 3.75 crore cases previously forthcoming, it is getting extremely intense to determine cases in the Indian Legal System. The excursion from recording a case to its judgment is an extremely long and depleting one. With the assistance of AI, overwhelming assignments like legitimate examination, disclosure, due industriousness, contract drafting, contract investigation, have gotten simple. Disclosure discusses when the arraignment needs to give the safeguard all the data and proof that they have about the case. This is an extreme assignment to do as now and again there is such a lot of administrative work and confirmations that it would be a misuse of assets just as a cash depleting position just as a period taking position to go over all the desk work, notwithstanding, with the utilization of AI, this undertaking would now be able to be performed by digitizing every one of the documents to be given over. Here, AI assists with going through gigabytes and gigabytes of information simply by composing in a couple of watchwords. Also, due constancy measure in M&A used to be a serious protracted interaction, however with AI, it is not difficult to do due perseverance, in the event that one understands what they are searching for simply by composing in a couple of watchwords. The documenting of cases is being made conceivable through online entrances too. This makes it such a ton simpler to go through e-documenting and now one doesn’t need to do a great deal of work physically, they can simply record a case with a couple of keystrokes.

2.BEING ABLE TO FOCUS MORE ON COMPLEX WORK: With AI assuming its part in playing out the small errands, the attorneys can zero in additional on the intricacies of a case, while the product deals with the dreary assignments.

3.COST EFFECTIVE: Tasks like documentation, examination and so forth, used to take a great deal of labour, consequently bringing about more compensation being paid and accordingly more monetary assets being spent. Be that as it may, with the utilization of AI, these dreary and simple undertakings have gotten more proficient and faster. Along these lines, it prompts cost decrease.

4.BETTER SKILL DEVELOPMENT: Indian legal counsellors have set aside a ton of effort to become familiar with the different subtleties of law. Notwithstanding, this used to be a very time taking and complex interaction which used to be accomplished through a ton of difficult work. Notwithstanding, AI, being savvy, has presented brilliant work and now even youthful legal advisors can without much of a stretch comprehend the subtleties of law in a less measure of time.

5.ALGORITHM BASED PREDICTIONS: When an attorney is drawn closer by a customer, it generally so happens that the legal counsellor gets a case or a specific territory of the case that is normal. Artificial intelligence would then be able to be utilized by the attorney to give the AI’s calculation something to do and the calculation, at that point on the bases of its savvy examination highlights, predicts if the legal counsellor can win the case, which consoles the customer too.

6.CONTRACT ANALYSIS and DRAFTING: previously, contract examination and drafting was a long interaction which required a ton of hours and due industriousness. Notwithstanding, through cutting edge AI calculations, it has gotten simpler to break down the necessities of an agreement and afterward anticipate a draft of the agreement.

7.ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN DECISION MAKING: Artificial Intelligence consolidates different scholarly endeavours to satisfy one of its uses, that is dynamic. India, notwithstanding, in the creator’s assessment can’t be seen receiving this element of the AI sooner rather than later, as India, is as yet an agricultural country and taking this action would prompt a business emergency and India can’t depend on the ability of Artificial Intelligence itself in choosing the army of parts of a specific case, particularly on the grounds that the judgment would influence the existences of individuals associated with the case and any sort of “glitch in the framework” would be profoundly vile.

8.ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN LEGAL RESEARCH: Lawyers consistently utilize a plenty of old decisions as points of reference while contending their case in unclear conditions. This requires a great deal of lawful examination and worker hours, an appointed authority, legal counsellor, law understudies, burn through a ton of effort and time in lawful exploration, anyway with the assistance of the imaginative and savvy calculation of AI programming projects, it has gotten extremely simple to achieve this overwhelming and depleting task. There are a couple of data sets accessible which helps the legal advisors find pertinent case laws and rules to continue with their cases.

9.ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN DOCUMENT REVIEW: As brought up previously, one of India’s top law offices, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas which has shown its advantage in utilizing AI of Kira Systems, to encourage due tirelessness and Document survey for viability and accuracy which will be of benefit to their customers.

Among all these previously mentioned advancements in the AI related field, a few centre issues have arisen, for example,

a) What is the lawful character of AI? Would it be able to be agreed the situation with an ‘individual’ or ‘resident’?

b) Who might be capable if any misfortune happens because of the carelessness of an AI? Will the rule of total or vicarious obligation apply in such a situation? In the last case, what discipline can be ascribed to a fake character?

c) How far would ai be able to be utilized in the legitimate calling?

d) Whether an individual who benefits the administrations of AI can be named as a ‘Shopper’ under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and so on

Similar as its latent capacity, the legitimate issues encompassing AI likewise appear to be unending. Despite the fact that AI may appear to be appealing from the outset redden, it is full of numerous risks that have been featured by a few famous researchers like Stephen Hawking, who said,”…The primitive forms of artificial intelligence we already have proved very useful. But I fear the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. Once humans develop artificial intelligence, it would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete and would be superseded.”[10]

BURDENS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN LEGAL AREA

There are numerous provisos in the idea of Artificial Intelligence; a portion of these have been recorded underneath:

1.LIABILITY: What occurs if there is a sure demonstration or exclusion done via robotized programming? Will a robot be expected to take responsibility for something that makes hurt an outsider? The more self-sufficient programming projects turns into, the harder it will be for people to deal with those virtual products and the outcomes that they produce. How about we take a speculative situation, where AI frameworks are being utilized for delivering legal choices and a case has emerged, wherein, the respondent cases that he has been outlined. Allow us additionally to assume that his cases are in reality obvious yet the proof is against him. Presently, as mechanized programming is information driven, it will clearly see the individual as liable and sentence him shamefully to a specific discipline, without legitimate examination. All in all, is this equitable? Will an AI driven programming/robot be expected to take responsibility for this? More to this, there are a great deal of inadequacies in the legitimate structure of authoritative obligation. Nonetheless, to this the creator recommends that the lawful system will comprises of laws which make it workable for the proprietor/maker/innovator of the product to be at risk for certain demonstration or oversight, in the event that he might have predicted or expected such a circumstance to happen because of an escape clause in the AI of the product.

2.LEGAL IDENTITY: Another issue that emerges when we talk about AI, is that, is it an individual? Does it have its own privileges and obligations? No lawful system in India has appropriately shed right on this matter. To dodge such issues, the creator proposes that the more intricate AI driven programming projects/robots be given the character of a lawful individual with its own arrangements of rights and liabilities. In any case, a particularly advance arrangement of AI, isn’t predicted right now to emerge in India, as it is as yet progressing in the innovation area.

3.DOES AI PROTECT DATA PRIVACY: As AI programming projects are totally information driven, the inflow of information should be exact and point by point to get more exact outcomes. Nonetheless, everything computerized is liable to net information protection issues. Indeed, even the online video conferencing applications being utilized during this genuine season of a pandemic to have the option to proceed with the delivering of equity is dependent upon encroachment of information security.

4.COMPETITION LAW: As examined above, AI needs information to learn. Concerning Competition Laws, the issue could emerge from the way that AI utilizes a wide range of information to learn and respond, particularly through the openness of constant online information on contenders’ calculations. This would be a chance for robots to distinguish cycle and follow up on this data, and spot one organization in the equivalent or preferred situation over its rival, improve its estimating models or, offer better administrations and conditions for bargains, and so on This could require a caution, since large numbers of those responses can be treated as concentrated practices, hostile to serious arrangements, or comparative.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE INDIAN LEGAL PROFESSION

The development of AI in the Indian lawful field has been curbed. As indicated by an examination, just about 4% of legal advisors in India utilize AI for their work. The effect of AI on the lawful calling and its ensuing suitability has appropriately been portrayed by previous Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra while addressing a conference. He said,

“…the future of any new-age technology lies in the regulations that govern them. Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises a high growth potential in a number of sectors… AI needs a strong legal framework around it to explore maximum benefits. AI today is growing multi-fold and we still do not know all the advantages or pitfalls…India has the right talent and technological resources. With a powerful legal directive, the country can set many milestones with a strong command over AI…But India currently does not have specific regulations that govern AI…”

Justice DY Chandrachud has also spoken on similar lines, in an interview, he said,

“The idea of Artificial Intelligence is not to supplant the human brain or the human mind or the presence of judges but to provide a facilitative tool to judges to reassess the processes which they follow, to reassess the work which they do and to ensure that their outcome is more predictable and consistent and ultimately provide wider access to justice to the common citizens.”

However, in developing countries like India, the usage of AI may not be regularized because of reluctance to adapt to this new change. There is also an apprehension that AI may cause serious ramifications in a labour surplus economy like India, with majority of people being uneducated and poverty stricken.

In this context, Justice Dominique Hascher, judge at the Supreme Court of France, has rightly said that,

“Each nation today aims to become a global leader in Artificial Intelligence. Hence, countries such as the US, the UK, China and Germany are increasing investments to leverage this technology. However, private technology companies are achieving the field…India’s approach towards AI strategy has to be balanced for both local needs and the greater good. A strong regulatory system around this can ensure long-term benefits and growth.[11]

DENOUEMENT

Man-made brainpower (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) has demonstrated a fair positive & negative viewpoint towards its OPERATION. The Indian legal framework is in the juvenile phase of advancement with Artificial insight innovation. This innovation has high potential benefits which will end up being quick track and savvy in not-so-distant future.

The presupposition of it to be a peril in the field of law is crazy. It has been obviously showing up from the use in different areas that it works towards expanding the viability alongside diminishing the time burned-through ludicrous when done physically by the professionals. The undeniable justification AI to not mediate and simply offer help is that the legal framework holds highlights like changeability, intricacy, adaptability, and circumspection. The possibility of AI to supplant the manual and administrative work will permit to the experts to zero in on other significant viewpoints and make ideal use of the time while making a healthy lifestyle by lessening off their heap of work. The intricacy because of the gigantic case information would overall require parcel of time to break down it precisely and the outcomes may show mistakes even, yet with AI this heavy errand is streamlined without any problem.

While the positive effect is featured, the worry about information security and insurance is being recognized as well. There is need of information assurance in the frameworks with responsibility of information regulators that will limit and screen the AI clients while taking care of, recovering and utilizing the information. The individual security of the people should be focused on, which brings the need of editing hardware also to screen and channel the said exercises and information.

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[1] Tutorials Point, Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Systems, https://www.dcpehvpm.org/E-Content/BCA/BCA-III/artificial_intelligence_tutorial.pdf. 

[2] Nils J. Nilsson, The Quest for Artificial Intelligence A History of Ideas and Achievements, Stanford University, Cambridge University Press, (2010), https://ai.stanford.edu/~nilsson/QAI/qai.pdf.

[3] https://www.bloombergquint.com/law-and-policy/indias-pending-court-cases-on-the-rise-in-charts#:~:text=overburdened%20judicial%20system.-,India%20now%20has%20almost%204%20crore%20pending%20cases%20spanning%20the,1%2C%202020.

[4] Michael Brady, Artificial intelligence and robotics, Science Directs, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/000437028590013X.

[5] Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, R.U.R. PLAY BY ČAPEK, Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/RUR.

[6] Russell and Norvig, Artifical Intelligence A Modern Approach, Library of Congress Publication, (1995), https://www.cin.ufpe.br/~tfl2/artificial-intelligence-modern-approach.9780131038059.25368.pdf.

[7] https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/what-is-artificial-intelligence

[8] https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/digital-india/artificial-intelligence-in-judiciary-does-it-really-make-sense/73211365

[9] https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/digital-india/artificial-intelligence-in-judiciary-does-it-really-make-sense/73211365

[10] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540

[11] https://www.barandbench.com/columns/artificial-intelligence-and-legal-profession-an-intelligent-way-ahead

Author: VRINDA KAPUR

Editor: Kanishka Vaish, Senior Editor, LexLife India.