Punjab and Haryana high court bars AI use in judgments, legal research; warns of strict action

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed judicial officers not to use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot for writing judgments or conducting legal research. In a letter issued on Monday, the high court registrar-general informed all district and sessions judges in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh that the Chief Justice has asked them "to direct the judicial officers working under your control not to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, including but not limited to ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Meta, et cetera, for writing of judgments and legal research. Any violation of these instructions will be viewed seriously." Earlier, the Gujarat High Court had barred the use of AI for any form of decision-making, judicial reasoning, order drafting, judgment preparation, bail sentencing considerations, or any substantive adjudicatory process, according to news agency PTI. According to the Gujarat High Court's AI policy, unveiled at a conference of district judiciary judges on Saturday, artificial intelligence should be used to improve the speed and quality of justice delivery, rather than as a replacement for judicial reasoning.