Justice Bhat inaugurates IIT Delhi’s Universal Justice Foundation lab facility on AI for judiciary

THE Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi has developed the Universal Justice Foundation (USJ), a lab facility based on Artificial Intelligence(AI) for Judiciary.

The lab was inaugurated by Supreme Court Judge Justice S. Ravindra Bhat in presence of V. Ramgopal Rao, Director of IIT Delhi, and Krishna Deva Rao, Vice-Chancellor of National Law University(NLU), Delhi. Former Chief Justice of India K.G Balakrishnan also joined the event virtually.

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Ramgopal Rao said that the institute had previously set up a Centre of Excellence for Law and Technology and is in the process of collaborating with NLU Delhi for innovation and research activities including joint projects, innovation, start-ups and can work on processes of judicial delays.

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Justice Bhat acknowledging how technology has improved data management and time consuming process in e-courts, said, "We must craft the safeguards around the use of AI for public function and ensure that the element of human discretion remains wherever required and definitely at each level where important decisions are made. This will ensure that at the very least discriminatory decision-making can be appealed and responsibility determined. Ultimately technology must aid judicial functioning and accessibility and not create ground for further exclusion."

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He further added that this move will ensure that least decision-making is appealed as technology will help to make unbiased decisions and increase the accessibility of judicial proceedings.