Former Chief Justice of India Justice D.Y. Chandrachud delivered a compelling address today at IBA Summit, emphasizing the urgent need to place constitutional values at the heart of emerging technologies that increasingly shape public life and justice systems worldwide.
Speaking at IBA Summit focused on Dispute Resolution in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, he highlighted that some of the most consequential decisions on political speech, privacy, and civil liberties are now being taken not by courts or elected legislatures, but by private technology companies operating far from constitutional scrutiny.
Justice Chandrachud cited global examples from the suspension of political leaders’ social media accounts, to battles between sovereign states and technology giants over user data noting that “These were decisions with constitutional consequences, but taken outside constitutional structures.”
He warned that digital power, driven by platforms and algorithms, increasingly determines rights, visibility, and freedom of expression:
“Power today no longer stops at the gates of the state. It resides in platforms that decide what we may say… and in data infrastructures that know us more intimately than any public authority does.”
Pointing to international justice systems moving rapidly toward digital mediation, automated triage, and AI-assisted judgement, he stressed that technology must continue to serve not supplant human adjudication.
Drawing from India’s own advancements, including machine-learning tools translating thousands of Supreme Court judgments into all constitutional languages, he noted that AI offers transformative potential in clearing case backlogs and expanding access to justice.
Yet, he cautioned:
“Efficiency cannot become the organising principle of justice. The destination of a legal system cannot be velocity, it must always be fairness.”
Positioning India at the forefront of digital transformation in public service delivery, he urged the legal community to shape technologies with constitutional intent, not merely commercial efficiency:
“The point is not to be the fastest on the road, but to remain firmly in the driver’s seat as the terrain changes around us.”