For the first time, the Supreme Court began evaluating an oral argument live transcription system developed by lawyers employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and technology powered by Natural Language Processing. The Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, while heading a Constitution Bench, pointed to a screen placed facing lawyers in his courtroom. He said, “We are just trying to explore the possibility of live transcription of arguments in the court. We had to do it in a live environment. So, it’s an experiment. We will just see how it works at least in the Constitution Bench matters. Then, we will have a permanent record of arguments which will of course help lawyers and judges, but also our law colleges. They can analyse how matters are argued...” he said.
Justice M R Shah said in a lighter vein, “This also means do not interrupt each other during the arguments. All will be recorded.” Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who hailed the move as historic, a milestone and a wonderful initiative, joined the banter to say, “Posterity will judge us what foolish arguments we made. ”
Moving away from the banter, the CJI said “The only problem is when two or more persons speak at the same time. However, we have engaged personnel who will clean the transcription by the evening and provide a link to the counsel to go through the transcripts and suggest corrections. After it is cleaned up and corrected, the transcripts would be given to the judges.”