Supreme Court Highlights Pitfalls of AI Translation: “Leave Granted” Translated as “Chutti Sweekaar”
The Supreme Court recently shed light on the potential pitfalls of relying heavily on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for translating legal documents. During a judgment that required examining English translations of Hindi court records, Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan noted several inaccuracies in AI-generated translations.
Justice Viswanathan humorously recounted an incident where the AI translation of “leave granted” turned into “chutti sweekaar” (holiday approved), while Justice Gavai noted similar issues with translations like “avkaash sweekrit” (vacation approval). These examples illustrated the potential for amusing errors when leaving crucial tasks to AI without human oversight.
AI has been increasingly integrated into the Supreme Court’s operations to enhance accessibility to justice. In January 2023, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud highlighted the judiciary’s aim to make judgments available in all Indian languages through AI assistance. By February 2023, the Court began using AI and Natural Language Processing for live transcription of hearings in Constitution Bench cases.
The Supreme Court is also working on providing these transcripts in regional languages, as announced by CJI Chandrachud in May 2023. Additionally, this year’s Supreme Court Hackathon focuses on leveraging AI to improve the court’s registry functions, emphasizing the ongoing effort to integrate technology into judicial processes while acknowledging the limitations and potential for error.
(With inputs from agency)
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