Supreme Court to use Artificial Intelligence to live transcribe proceedings on experimental basis

The CJI said that live transcription will help create a permanent record of arguments, which will help students of law

After going live with its proceedings, the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud decided to transcribe arguments in Constitution bench matters on experimental basis.

The CJI made the announcement of this development in open court before taking up the Maharashtra political crisis matter.

At the start of the hearing, the five-judge Constitution bench led by CJI said, “Do you see the screen? We’re just trying to explore the possibilities of live transcript."

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"We’ll see how it works, especially in the Constitution bench matters, because then we’ll have a permanent record of arguments," the CJI said, adding the artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing technology for live transcription of its hearings would be used.

He further said that it would not only help judges and the lawyers, but also help the law colleges. “They can analyse how matters are argued…It is a huge resource," the CJI said.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was present in the courtroom, termed it as a "milestone and wonderful decision".

The transcript would also be provided to the counsel and then uploaded on the SC's website, Justice Chandrachud said.

The Supreme Court had already started live streaming of proceedings in Constitution bench matters, in a big step towards transparency and open court system.

The Chief Justice stressed that the transcription will be prepared on an experimental basis for a day or two to iron out creases, before making it a norm.