Introduction
The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on legal practice in India has been significant, with the potential to revolutionize the way legal professionals work and interact with clients, conduct research and present their arguments before the Court. AI has the ability to streamline processes, increase efficiency, and reduce costs in areas such as legal research and contract review. However, its adoption also raises important ethical and regulatory considerations that must be carefully addressed.
The present Article aims to define Artificial Intelligence, elaborate how AI makes an impact on the legal professionals and what are the challenges faced by the system and a way forward.
What is AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and act like humans. This includes the ability to learn from experience, adapt to new information, and perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as problem-solving, decision-making, and language understanding. AI can be applied in various fields, including healthcare, finance, transportation, and legal practice, to automate processes, analyze data, and make predictions.
Growth of AI in India
India has seen significant growth and progress in the field of AI. Not only legal field, but AI has been started to be used at various other places too like healthcare, education, and agriculture. Indian academic institutions are actively contributing to the advancement of AI through establishing dedicated AI labs and centers of excellence to drive innovation in this field. Moreover, multi-national companies too have been investing in AI research and developmental centers in India.
Overall it can be said that growth and progress of AI in India are evident in the increasing adoption of AI technologies across various sectors and the emergence of the vibrant eco system.
Impact of AI on Legal Field
In India, AI is making a significant impact in legal research and analysis. Legal professionals can now access vast amounts of legal information through AI-powered platforms, enabling them to make more informed decisions and provide better counsel to their clients. AI is also being used to automate routine tasks such as contract review and due diligence, saving lawyer’s valuable time and allowing them to focus on more complex legal issues.
In other words it may be stated that AI is helpful in performing all the advocates oriented tasks like framing contracts, framing terms of settlements, drafting, researching case laws and other relevant provisions, providing briefs, preparing arguments, updating on recent legal developments and other related works in a fraction of seconds which otherwise would take weeks or months to the advocates to perform these tedious tasks.
Challenged faced by the AI in legal practice
However, the adoption of AI in legal practice also raises challenges and negative points. These challenges can be summarized in the following heads-
- Issue of unemployment– It has been seen that AI powered tools has eased the research work of the advocates which in turn has reduced the need of legal researchers. The research conducted by the AI is far more efficient, fast and systematic. From finding the requisite case laws to prepare a well arranged and coherent set of arguments, AI is unmatchable. But all this has reduced the need of legal researchers.
- Issue of misinformation: sometimes AI may provide misinformation also because it can,t be guaranteed that results produced by the AI are 100% accurate.
- Privacy issues- AI has also certain privacy issues of the user. In India, the data protection bill has still not come into force. In 2017, the Supreme Court of India issued a landmark decision in the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs Union of India, affirming the fundamental right to privacy as a part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. This decision has important implications for the use of AI in legal practice, particularly in areas such as data privacy and security.
- No regulatory framework– Until now there is no law in India to regulate AI practices. Until an efficient law is developed to regulate the AI practices, it will continue to be challenging to use the AI in the legal field.
- Potential to bring a significant shift to advocacy – Advocacy majorly includes giving legal advices, conducting research, and prepare the arguments. If all these tasks start getting performed through machines, it has a potential to bring significant changes to the advocacy as a profession.
In response to these concerns, legal professionals and policymakers in India have begun to grapple with the ethical and regulatory implications of AI in legal practice. The Indian Bar Association has issued guidelines for the ethical use of AI in legal practice, emphasizing the importance of transparency, accountability, and fairness. Additionally, there have been discussions about the need for new regulations to govern the use of AI in the legal industry.
Conclusion
Overall, while AI has the potential to transform legal practice in India, its adoption also raises important ethical and regulatory considerations that must be carefully addressed. As AI continues to evolve, it will be crucial for legal professionals and policymakers to work together to ensure that its use in legal practice is both ethical and accountable.
Government must come up with a suitable law to regulate the practice.
Significance of the Topic Today AI has started making its presence in all the fields like science, technology, agriculture, health, medicine, innovation, academics. Legal profession too couldn’t remain immune to it and accordingly its vast presence is felt in the legal field. Therefore, it makes it a current debatable topic. And the topic becomes significant for the judiciary aspirants. Judiciary coaching suggests that aspirants need to prepare this topic from the perspective of essay. Judiciary coaching also suggest that such a topic holds immense significance as a question of interview too.
