CJI urges law universities to lead, not just adapt to AI

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Sunday urged national law universities to move beyond merely responding to technological change and instead take the lead in determining how technology should reshape the legal system, with justice, fairness, and human judgment remaining at its core. Addressing the Vice Chancellors' Conclave 2.0 at National Law University, Jodhpur, the CJI said the legal profession can no longer remain a late adopter of technology.

Rejecting an outright prohibition of tools like generative AI in legal education, the CJI advocated their transparent and supervised use in classrooms, LiveLaw reports. He acknowledged concerns that students could become dependent on AI or mistake plausible-sounding outputs for legally correct answers, but said “prohibition cannot be the answer to that risk.” A student forbidden from using these tools in a supervised setting will still encounter them in professional life, possibly a step behind peers.

The CJI said academic integrity and the responsible use of AI must become components of curriculum and pedagogy. He called for serious research on algorithmic accountability, data protection, and digital access to justice. “Let technology make legal institutions and services more capable, but let our values determine the direction in which that capability is used,” he said, adding that innovation should make justice faster but never less fair.