Kerala High Court issues guidelines for use of AI by judges, says no AI for judgments

Taking note of the excessive use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools by members of the district judiciary, the Kerala High Court, in a first for the country, has issued guidelines stating that judges must not use AI tools to arrive at any findings, grant relief, or issue orders or judgments under any circumstances.

Recognising that while AI tools can be beneficial in many ways, there are also several negative consequences of AI use, including privacy violations, data security risks, and erosion of trust in judicial decisions, the Kerala High Court on Saturday advised the district judiciary to exercise caution while using such tools.

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As per this policy, judges must not use AI tools to arrive at any findings, grant relief, or issue orders or judgments under any circumstances.

Further, the policy also bars the use of tools like ChatGPT and Deepseek. Only AI tools approved by the High Court or the Supreme Court can be used.

Most AI tools, including ChatGPT and DeepSeek, operate as cloud-based technologies. On such platforms, any input provided by users may be accessed or used by service providers to further their interests, including fine-tuning their models. Submitting information such as case facts, personal identifiers, privileged communications or uploading any other documents related to litigation to these AI tools may result in a serious breach of confidentiality, it stated.

“Hence, the use of all cloud-based services should be avoided, except for approved AI tools,” the High Court said.

The policy has been designed to ensure responsible use of AI tools in judicial work, protecting privacy rights, addressing security risks, complying with legal and ethical obligations, and ensuring accountability at every level.

The policy also aims to ensure that, under no circumstances, AI tools are used as a substitute for decision-making or legal reasoning.

It directs members and staff of the district judiciary to attend training sessions and maintain a strict record of every instance of AI use.

The High Court has issued the following 10 guidelines:

1. It shall be the obligation of the members of the judiciary and employees assisting them to ensure that any Al tool they use for official purposes adheres to the integral principles of transparency, fairness, accountability, and protection of confidentiality

2. Prohibition on submission of information, including facts of the case, personal identifiers, or privileged communications, or uploading any other documents relating to the litigations to non-approved generative AI tools. Hence, the use of all cloud-based services should be avoided except for the approved AI tools.

3. Any results generated by approved AI tools, such as legal citation or references, or others, have to be verified by the judicial officers.

4. Translations generated by AI tools are to be verified by judges or qualified translators.

5. Human supervision is to be exercised over approved AI tools at all times.

6. AI tools are not to be used to arrive at findings, grant relief, orders, or judgments.

7. The approved AI tools are to be used solely for the purposes for which they have been provided.

8. Courts have to maintain a detailed audit of all instances of AI use, including the names of tools used and the human verification process adopted.

9. The members of the judiciary and the employees must attend training programmes of the Judicial Academy or the High Court regarding ethical, legal, practical, and technical use of AI

10. The errors or issues noticed in outputs of approved AI tools are to be reported immediately to the Principal District Court, and the same has to be forwarded to the IT department of the High Court promptly.

These guidelines will also apply to any interns or law clerks working with the district judiciary in Kerala.