AI to take dictation and type for judges, Delhi gets first Pilot Hybrid Court room with speech to text facility

Hybrid court room

First Pilot Hybrid court room, Delhi courts on Friday entered the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with its first ‘pilot hybrid court’, which is equipped with ‘speech to text’ facility. Now AI will take dictation and also do typing for the judges while recording evidence. While on one hand it will save time, on the other hand it will increase the efficiency of judges and court staff, especially typists.

Hybrid court room inaugurated in Delhi High Court

Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Manmohan on Friday inaugurated the first AI-equipped pilot hybrid court room at Tis Hazari Court. He also launched a digital court app. On this occasion, Justice Manmohan said that technology should be used to improve the legal system and reduce delay in delivering justice. The pilot hybrid court has speech-to-text facility for evidence recording and through the digital court application judicial officers can access all e-filed cases.

Technology is needed to improve the legal system

Justice Manmohan stressed, “We have to use technology to improve the legal system to ensure that people who are accused of crimes are punished, and delays have to be reduced. The only way to ensure that a system works is to bring good technology into the system.” Justice Manmohan described the speech-to-text facility for evidence recording as a very powerful tool. He said it has the potential to be a game-changer. The speech to text facility for recording evidence is equipped with advanced technologies such as ‘automatic speech recognition’ and ‘large language models’ to efficiently convert spoken words into written text that appears on the system’s screen.

Digital Court Application

The ‘Digital Court Application’ designed for judicial officers is a desktop application that includes several features, such as document upload function which ensures that all physical documents submitted to the court are also available in digital form in the Case Information System (CIS).

Justice Manmohan also warned against misuse

He said the facility, equipped with diverse equipment, is an example of the right application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. The ACJ also said that ongoing efforts are on to promote paperless courts. He praised the IT committee headed by Justice Rajiv Shakdher and said everyone is making efforts and the IT committee is doing a very good job. However, Justice Manmohan also warned that technology is often used to violate laws and commit crimes as well. He said, “Today, when I sit in court and decide cases, one thing that strikes me is that technology is being used to circumvent laws, break laws, promote violations. The only way to deal with this is to bring people within the ambit of law again by using technology in the right way.” (ANI)