# CJI Surya Kant says AI cannot replace judges 2026-10-02T07:06:29+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 4 independent outlets Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said AI can assist courts but cannot replace judges, as legal reasoning and decisions must remain with human judges. Speaking at the VII Congress of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on 1 October, he said technological change must be guided by constitutional commitments to liberty, equality and access to justice. The CJI cited initiatives including SUVAS, an AI tool for translating judgments into 18 Indian languages with over 83,000 translations published by 2025, and Su-Sahayak, an AI chatbot on the Supreme Court website. He said the eCourts Mission Mode Project has supported court digitisation since 2011 and that between March 2020 and June 2024 the Supreme Court conducted over 750,000 hearings via video conferencing. The CJI acknowledged unequal digital access, data security and accountability for algorithms remained concerns as courts increase technology reliance. He called for cooperation among Asian constitutional courts to address technological challenges while staying anchored to constitutional values. Update, 3 October 2026: Business Standard and NDTV Profit now also report the CJI's speech, with NDTV Profit specifying he spoke on 1 October. National Herald India adds details of the 'One Case, One Data' initiative, which connects case information across court levels to reduce duplication. All sources confirm the CJI's message that AI cannot replace judges and that technology must stay anchored to constitutional values. ## Indian Opinion Analysis All four outlets report the same speech by CJI Surya Kant in Samarkand and agree on his central message: AI can assist but not replace judges, and technology must stay anchored to constitutional values. National Herald India provides the most detailed account, listing specific initiatives such as SUVAS, Su-Sahayak and 'One Case, One Data' that the other outlets omit. CNBC TV18 and Business Standard share near-identical wire copy, while NDTV Profit adds that the speech was on 1 October, a day earlier than other sources imply. The uniform framing across all outlets, with no disagreement over any fact or stance, indicates wire-service-driven straight reporting rather than editorial divergence. ## Coverage Coverage: 4 sources, 4 neutral - nationalheraldindia.com (neutral report) Straight wire copy with extensive initiative details - cnbctv18.com (neutral report) Straight wire copy, no editorialising - ndtvprofit.com (neutral report) Short wire copy, no editorial slant - business-standard.com (neutral report) Straight wire copy, identical to CNBC TV18 This brief was synthesised by AI from the 4 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: eCourts Mission Mode Project, Supreme Court of India, Surya Kant, SUVAS Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/ai-can-assist-but-not-replace-judges-says-cji-surya-kant/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/ai-can-assist-but-not-replace-judges-says-cji-surya-kant/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/