Supreme Court Chief Justice Justice Surya Kant said that the biggest strength of arbitration has always been that it can change without losing its core identity – impartiality, independence of the parties and enforceable result. He said that as judges, arbitrators and lawyers, our work is easy, while adapting to the changing times, we should not forget why the parties had chosen this path. CJI said that arbitration has never stopped. He said these things at the annual India Conference 2026 of Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) in Delhi.
CJI Surya Kant speaking at the conference on ‘International Arbitration: Understanding New Truths and Testing the Soundness of Fundamentals’ Arbitration originated as a shortcut for traders to avoid the slow Admiralty courts. Then after the Second World War, it became the backbone of international trade and after the end of colonialism, it also took into its scope the disputes related to investment. Today it is tackling questions related to artificial intelligence, climate-related controversies and digital evidence that its founders could never have imagined.
He said, ‘All the ‘stress tests’ (tests that test strength) that I have mentioned today are actually a sign of success, not failure. A system that no one has even bothered to test is not worthy of a conference of this level or an audience like you.
What did CJI say about deepfake evidence?
The Chief Justice said that deepfake evidence is statements of witnesses written by AI and documents generated entirely by generative tools without any disclosure. ‘These are no longer imaginary risks, our tribunals need real tools to deal with them,’ he said. He suggested that whenever generative AI has been used in preparing a witness statement or expert report, it should be disclosed. The CJI emphasized that no arbitrator tribunal should be given the freedom to decide its own approach in dealing with deepfakes or AI-generated content.
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