Observing that the Supreme Court has consciously approached technology as an aid to human reasoning rather than a substitute for independent judicial thought, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has said considerable emphasis has been placed on developing “Swadeshi jurisprudence”.

Delivering a lecture at the Oxford Union and the Oxford Law Society on the theme “Constitutional Promise to Digital Reality: Safeguarding Justice in the Age of AI and Technological Advancement”, the CJI said that in addition to ongoing technological initiatives, serious efforts are underway to explore establishing an indigenous AI ecosystem for the judiciary.

“The Supreme Court of India has consciously approached technology as an aid to human reasoning rather than as a substitute for independent judicial thought. Considerable emphasis, however, has been placed upon the development of what may be described as a distinctly Indian or ‘Swadeshi jurisprudence’: One that remains attentive to our own constitutional values, institutional realities, linguistic diversity, and social conditions rather than relying solely upon imported technological models or assumptions,” the CJI said.

He said technology has contributed to something beyond the constitutional promise of access to justice.

“It has, in many ways, brought judicial systems across the world into far closer conversation with one another and strengthened what may now fairly be described as an increasingly interconnected global judicial community,” he said.

Young lawyers, judicial officers, and legal professionals are an encouraging source for the judiciary’s technological transformation, the CJI said.

He also emphasised that technology can never replace human judgment.

“The youth in law, I am using the word, is so adaptive in India, whether the district court judicial officer, whether the government lawyer, and even those who are assisting the corporate entities as legal advisors. All these young brains are so adaptive, so quick in adopting it, that they have been a really encouraging source for the Indian judiciary to bring all these reformative changes,” the CJI said.

He said an artificial intelligence system can process immense volumes of legal text with astonishing speed.

“It can map procedural trends and eliminate administrative checkpoints with clinical precision, yet it remains entirely blind to the qualities that animate the soul of the law — empathy, ethical discernment, and deep contextual understanding,” the CJI said.

Advocate Tanvi Dubey delivered the welcome remarks.