Taking serious exception to an Andhra Pradesh trial court relying on non-existent, Artificial Intelligence-generated judgments, the Supreme Court of India has issued notices to Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and the Bar Council of India to explore ways to address the issue.A Bench of Justice P S Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe also appointed senior advocate Shyam Divan as amicus curiae to assist the court.“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,” the Bench said in its February 27 order.“This case assumes considerable institutional concern, not because of the decision that was taken on the merits of the case, but about the process of adjudication and determination,” it observed.“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 misconduct and legal consequences shall follow. It is compelling that we examine this issue in more detail,” the court added.Pending consideration of the matter, the Bench directed the trial court not to proceed further and listed the case for hearing on March 10.The issue surfaced during the hearing of a petition challenging a January order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in a suit for injunction. The trial court had dismissed objections to an Advocate-Commissioner’s report, relying on several purported Supreme Court rulings.However, the petitioner contended that the cited judgments were fake and non-existent. The High Court subsequently found that the rulings in question were AI-generated, the apex court noted.Earlier, on February 17, the Supreme Court had expressed concern over the growing trend of petitions drafted using AI tools after a non-existent judgment titled ‘Mercy versus Mankind’ was cited in a matter.“We are alarmed to reflect that some lawyers have started using AI to draft petitions. It is absolutely uncalled for,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant had remarked while hearing a PIL filed by academician Roop Rekha Verma.On January 20, the court had also flagged the use of fabricated and AI-generated evidence in matrimonial disputes, observing that litigants were increasingly misusing technology to construct cases based on false allegations.