The HC has advised the district judge to “exercise extreme caution”, because “random use of AI tools can lead to negative consequences, including violation of privacy rights, risks for data security and erosion of trust in judicial decision -making”. | Photocredit: Istockphoto
In a milestone movement, the Kerala High Court was released with a user policy for artificial intelligence (AI) that specifically prohibits the use of such instruments for decision -making or legal reasoning by the district judge.
The Supreme Court is based on the ‘Policy with regard to the use of artificial intelligence services in district judge’ for a responsible and limited use of AI in the judicial functions of the district judge of the State with a view to the increasing availability of and access to such software tools.
According to sources of the court, it is a first policy in his child.
It has advised the district judge to “exercise extreme caution” because “random use of AI tools can lead to negative consequences, including a violation of privacy rights, risks for data protection and erosion of trust in judicial decision -making”.
“The objectives are to ensure that AI tools are only used in a responsible manner, exclusively as an aid, and strictly for specifically permitted purposes. The policy is intended to ensure that AI tools are used under no circumstances as a replacement for decision -making or legal reasoning,” the policy document said.
New AI policy
The policy is also intended to help members of the judiciary and the staff to comply with their ethical and legal obligations, in particular in terms of guaranteeing human supervision, transparency, fairness, confidentiality and accountability at all stages of judicial decision -making.
“Any violation of this policy can lead to disciplinary measures, and rules regarding disciplinary procedures will have the upper hand,” said the policy document issued on July 19.
The new guidelines apply to members of the district judge in the state, the staff who help them and also trainees or rights employees who work with them in Kerala.
“The policy includes all kinds of AI tools, including, but not limited to, generative AI tools and databases that use AI to provide access to various sources, including case law and statutes,” the document said.
Generative AI examples are Chatgpt, Gemini, Copilot and Deepseek, said it.
It also said that the new guidelines apply to all circumstances in which AI tools are used to perform or to help with the performance of judicial work, regardless of location and usage time and whether they are used on personal, judicial or third parties.
Call for judicial use of AI
The policy indicates that the use of AI tools for official purposes meet the principles of transparency, fairness, accountability and protection of confidentiality, the use of cloud-based service-based the approved AI tools, accurate verification of the results, including translations, generated by such software and all time human control of their use.
“AI tools are not used to achieve any findings, exemption, order or judgment under all circumstances, if the responsibility for the content and integrity of the judicial order, the judgment or part thereof lies entirely with the judges,” said it.
It also leads that courts retain a detailed audit of all cases in which AI tools are used.
“The data in this context includes the tools used and the adopted human verification process,” said it.
Participation in training programs about the ethical, legal, technical and practical aspects of AI and reporting errors or problems that are noted in the output generated by one of the approved AI tools are the other guidelines mentioned in the policy document.
The Supreme Court has asked all district judges and main judicial magistrates to communicate the policy document to all judicial officers and the employees under their jurisdiction and to take the necessary steps to guarantee their strict compliance.
Published on July 20, 2025
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