CAN COURTROOMS BE REPLACED BY AI?

COURTROOMS vs. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

A courtroom is the forum where justice is administered under the authority of a human judge. During hearings, defendant and the complainant present their arguments and justification, while they evaluate the evidences, facts, and circumstances. Based on this assessment, the judge pronounces a verdict in accordance with the law.

AI is a tool that enables humans to create, in an artificial way, what once seemed divine-pushing the boundaries of reality and often making the artificial appear even more realistic than the real. It is all about how justice is served either through human judge in courtrooms or artificial judge in black screen.

Imagine that, you are walking into the courtroom where instead of a judge in a black robe, you can see the screen flashing --JUDGEMENT LOADING--in a black screen, sounds exciting or scaring?

JUSTICE vs. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The ultimate aim of the court is to ensure the fair administration of justice. Judges play a vital role in this process by interpreting laws and delivering appropriate judgements through the analysis of evidence, arguments, and witness testimonies. To a certain extent, AI can be effectively employed to assist in the governance and protection of laws. Unlike human judges, who may be influenced by personal biases or external pressures, AI operates without such subjectivity. Moreover, AI has the potential to deliver judgements more swiftly, aligning with the legal maxim, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied'.

HUMANS vs. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

What happens when a person cries, gets hungry, becomes nervous while lying, or behaves suspiciously? Human judges are capable of reading these emotions and behaviors, which is why they have traditionally been the cornerstone of justice.

However, relying solely on humans can be time-consuming and prone to errors or forgetfulness. AI, on the other hand, cannot perceive emotions but can process vast amounts of data quickly, consistently, and without bias. So why not combine the strengths of both? By working together, humans and AI can transform each other's limitations into advantages-human intuition guided by AI's precision. If humans have created AI, it is only logical that they should collaborate with it, allowing AI to assist humans in delivering faster, more accurate, and fairer justice.

AI FOUND A KILLER:

The 2006 Anchal-Kollam murder case of a mother and newborn twins remained unsolved for 19 years. In a significant breakthrough, the Kerala Police, with assistance from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), utilized Artificial Intelligence (AI) to digitally age-old photographs of the suspects, Divil Kumar and Rajesh, and cross-referenced these with social media profiles. This innovative approach led to the identification and arrest of the accused in January 2025, highlighting the transformation role of AI in modern criminal investigations.

CONCLUSION:

Artificial Intelligence in courtrooms has both merits and demerits. But it is the role of humans to change those demerits into merits for well governance. The cases which are complex in nature can be dealt with humans and the cases which don’t need human intervention can be left with AI. I conclude by saying that AI is safe unless or until it overrules humans.