The Andhra Pradesh high court has cautioned the lower court judges, warning them against excessive dependence on Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in judicial decision-making.
The court observed that AI systems can sometimes generate non-existent or fabricated judgments, posing a serious threat to the credibility of the justice system.
Justice Ravinath Tilhari, delivering the ruling, emphasized that human reasoning, ethical discretion, and judicial wisdom must remain central to court verdicts.
“Technology may assist, but it cannot replace human intelligence. AI lacks moral judgment and the ability to evaluate evidence with consciousness,” the court stated.
The issue surfaced in a civil dispute in Vijayawada, where a trial court appointed an advocate commissioner. A woman named Gummadi Usha Rani challenged the commissioner’s report and sought its cancellation.
The trial judge dismissed her plea in August 2025, stating objections could be addressed during trial through cross-examination. However, the judge cited four legal precedents in the order.
When Usha Rani and Sunita challenged the order in the high court, they pointed out that the four cited judgments did not exist.
The trial judge submitted a report admitting that he had used AI for the first time and believed the judgments generated were genuine.
Although the high court agreed that the legal reasoning in the order was broadly correct, it expressed deep concern over AI “hallucinating” case law.
The high court warned that such incidents could erode public trust in the judiciary and directed judicial officers to rely primarily on verified legal databases and human scrutiny rather than AI-generated outputs.