Use of AI-Generated Non-Existent Judgments Amounts to Judicial Misconduct: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of India has issued a warning against the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate fake judgements that don’t even exist. The court said that relying on such judgments results in judicial misconduct rather than just a simple error in decision-making.

The court was hearing a case of Gummadi Usha Rani & Anr v Sure Mallikarjuna Rao & Anr from the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which had observed that the trial court had decided the matter, relying on several AI-generated non-existent cases. The high court acknowledged this but accepted that the junior civil judge had made the error in good faith. Therefore, the high court upheld the trial court’s order.

Therefore, the defendants took this matter to the Supreme Court, which stayed the lower court’s order on the property dispute.

The apex court issued notices to the opposite parties and said that this case was of “considerable institutional concern” because of the adjudication and determination process. The court has warned that using AI on judicial work would lead to legal consequences.

The court also issued notice to the attorney general, solicitor general and the Bar Council of India. It has appointed senior counsel Shyam Divan, who is allowed to nominate an advocate on record to help him.

The tentative date for the next hearing is scheduled for April 10, 2026.