CJI launches AI-driven Assistance Portal for Supreme Court Judges
On Tuesday, the Chief Justice of India, S. A. Bobde, launched the Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Court’s Efficiency (SUPACE) through videoconferencing. The SUPACE portal is an AI-driven assistance portal for Supreme Court, a tool that collects relevant facts and laws and makes them available to a judge. It will help judges with research and ease their workload.
Artificial Intelligence Committee
The apex court constituted the Artificial Intelligence Committee in 2019 to explore the use of AI for the Judiciary. Justice L. Nageswara Rao is the Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Committee. In his address, he said, “In the … future, AI will likely present a more streamlined, cost-effective and time-bound means to bringing to fruition the fundamental right of access to justice”. He also said that “ this tool can assist the judges, court staff and litigants in several ways by addressing existing bottlenecks resulting in excessive delays.”
Can AI replace judges and lawyers?
J. Rao assured that “it is quite implausible that AI would ever make human lawyers or judges completely redundant”
Will SUPACE affect the decision-making of courts?
During the launch, CJI Bobde said “some interpret AI as automated decision making, this tool isn’t designed to take decisions. Rather, only to process facts and to make them available to judges looking for input for a decision.”
He made it clear that it will not affect the decision-making of the court. He said that “This is where we are going to stop using it … After it has given all the information and analyzed all the examples” … “We are not going to let it spill over to decision making.”
This is a crucial development to introduce ICT in the processes of the Judiciary. It has the potential to speeding up the pace of the justice system of the nation. The functioning of the AI-driven tool is restricted to research only. It will not affect the decision-making of the court in any manner.
You can watch the launching session of SUPACE here.
Do subscribe to our Telegram channel for more resources and discussions on technology law and news. To receive weekly updates, and a massive monthly roundup, don’t forget to subscribe to our Newsletter.
You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter for frequent updates and news flashes about #technologylaw.
