'Use of AI generated fake judgments to be treated as misconduct': Supreme Court cautions trial courts

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has taken exception to the trial court's using AI generated non existent and fake judgments to adjudicate a dispute, saying this would not be taken as an error in decision making but would be treated as a misconduct and legal consequences would follow.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe decided to examine the larger issue regarding the misuse of AI in legal proceedings in a detailed manner, after being informed about the use of non existent Supreme Court judgments by a trial court in a civil dispute.

"We take cognizance of the Trial Court deploying AI generated non-existing, fake or synthetic alleged judgments and seek to examine its consequences and accountability as it has a direct bearing on integrity of adjudicatory process. At the outset, we must declare that a decision based on such non-existent and fake alleged judgments is not an error in the decision making. It would be a misconduct and legal consequence shall follow. It is compelling that we examine this issue in more detail,'' the bench said.

In its order on February 27, 2026, the court issued notice to the Attorney General, the Solicitor General and the Bar Council of India and appointed senior advocate Shyam Divan as amicus curiae in the matter.

The court was dealing with a plea by Gunmadi Usha Rani and another against the Andhra Pradesh High Court's order of January 21, 2026.

The petitioners were the defendants in a suit filed by the respondents for injunction. Pending disposal of the suit, the trial court appointed an advocate commissioner to note the physical features of the property. The petitioners challenged the report of the advocate commissioner by raising certain objections.

The trial court, by its order on August 19, 2025 dismissed the objection and in the process, relied on certain decisions like Subramani Vs M Natarajan (2013), Chidambaram Pillai Vs SAL Ramasamy, Lakshmi Devi Vs K Prabha (2006), and Gajanan Vs Ramdas (2015).

The petitioners challenged the orders passed by the trial court, contending that the judgments referred to and relied on were non-existent and fake orders.

The High Court considered the objection and realised that the judgments are Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated and after recording a word of caution proceeded to decide the case on merits and dismissed the civil revision petition affirming the decision of the trial court.

The apex court decided to examine the challenge to the High Court's order, issued notice and fixed the matter for consideration on March 10, 2026. It directed the trial court not to proceed on the basis of the advocate commissioner’s report.